Final Fantasy VIII: Siren's Song
by Quick-n-Popular
Summary: After the battle with Ultaimecia, Squall has been experiencing terrible visions, visions of Ellone being brutally tortured.


Final Fantasy VIII: Siren's Song.

Disclaimer: It'd be totally cool if I did own FFVIII, but I don't.

Hope ya enjoy it. I enjoyed making it.

In a deep white haze that seems to go on forever, a long black haired, young woman endlessly looks in every direction of the endless, colorless void.

"Squall!" She yells. But no response is made.

She suddenly stops and looks down at her chest. Dressed in a black-laced short dress with a baby blue knit cover all on, she had a necklace draped around her neck with two rings that dangled. One ring was larger than the other and engraved a lion's head. She lifted up this ring and held it tightly.

"I'll be here…" She whispered softly to herself. She then looked to one direction and sprinted off to where the white void opened up into a breezy flowered area and there she stopped.

"Squall!" She called out loud again.

Again no answer.

She scanned the area and came upon an area of the flowers that had a large black shape in it. She quickly ran over to that spot and found the person she was searching for. Wearing both black leather pants and coat, which had white fur placed along the backside of the collar, his brown hair lay across his face which held a scar that came diagonally from his right eyebrow to the corner of his left eye.

His eyes were closed but his lips were moving.

"…Rinoa…where are…you…" He gasped and then went silent.

Rinoa held him close to her and closed her eyes

"Don't worry, Squall. I'm right here. I'm here for you." She whispered into his ear. A single tear came down from her face.

Just then, a loud sound emits as a ship appears in the sky. Crimson colored it's body is that the shape of a falcon with the nose of the ship resembling that of a raptor's head. When the ship landed four figures came running towards Rinoa and Squall. One of them, a tall beautiful blonde wearing a long maroon fighting uniform that held a whip to it, knelt down next to them.

"Rinoa, are you and Squall ok?"

Rinoa nodded and looked down at Squall, "I'm fine, Quistis, but Squall, I think, needs some medical attention. When I found him he wasn't moving and only muttered a few words and then went quiet again."

Quistis nodded. Two of the men who were with her, one wearing shorts and a short sleeved T-shirt, and the other one in more of a western attire, helped Squall off the ground and carried him to the ship with Quistis right with them. Another girl, shorter than all of them wearing a canary-yellow short skirt that held a pair of nunchakus by her side, knelt down and helped Rinoa up as the two of them followed suit and headed for the ship.

Inside the ship were numerous amounts of people.

Rinoa looked questioningly at Quistis.

"After battle our with Adel and then jumping into time-compression, Lunatic Pandora lost it's power and fell upon Esthar. The destruction led the place to utter chaos and some of the people ran out of the city onto the planes. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward went to rescue them in our absence." She answered.

Rinoa nodded. She, along with Quistis, went out of the hangar area and went to the room that adjoined it where Squall was lying on a stretcher with the three other people that had met them on the field.

"What the hell's wrong with him!" Cried out the guy with the shorts.

"Zell, calm down! Shouting isn't going to bring him conscience again!" Said Quistis.

"Heh, who knows? He might be awake right now and is just enjoying Zell bitch about nothing." Said the guy with the Southern wear.

"You're not helping, either, Irvine!" Said the short girl.

"Zell, Irvine, Selphie, everyone! Just relax!" Quistis looked as though she was going to explode.

Rinoa cleared her throat; "Um…Does anyone know where we're at?"

Zell this time was the one who spoke. "We're currently at Edea's House. The pilot wants to know where we want to go. I say let's head back to Esthar and have Dr. Odine take a look at him."

Irvine shook his head, "Probably not a good idea, considering the chaos that still grappling the city."

"Well then where?" Zell retorted.

Again Rinoa cleared her throat. "How about the Garden? Your Dr. Kadowaski might be able to help right?"

Quistis nodded, "I'm sure of it. I think all the students and faculty are healed up after the Galbadia Battle, so I think she'll be available."

The others nodded and Zell went out of the room to go talk to the pilot. Everyone else in the room lay down on the floor.

"Man, what a trip. Ultaimecia was a pain for sure." Said Irvine.

Selphie nodded, "But at least she's gone, right? No more Sorceresses for us to worry about?"

Quistis sighed deeply, "I hope not, but for now I think so." Quistis looked over to Rinoa who was brushing away a stray hair from Squall's face.

"Rinoa?" She asked, "Just out of curiosity, why did you suggest the Garden?"

Rinoa, who was still looking at Squall, shrugged, "I just thought that be the best place for him to wake up in. His home. The place where he feels most comfortable. Besides, I can't think of a better place to go, since Esthar is in such trouble."

Everyone in the room, minus Squall, nodded.

Rinoa continued to look at Squall, stroking his hair gently.

"He's going to be fine, Rinoa." Said Selphie.

Rinoa nodded.

"What do you think happened to him?" Asked Irvine.

Nobody in the room answered.

The door opened and Zell returned.

"The pilot says that we'll be back at the garden in a matter of seconds. I also radioed the Garden. Dr. Kadowaski and a number of students are waiting for him to be brought there and taken to the medical center."

Rinoa nodded again and smiled, "Thanks Zell. Even though Squall won't admit it. He really has a great friend."

Zell did one of his fighting poses; "You better believe it."

Everyone in the room laughed.

They were back at Fisherman's Horizon, where the Garden was currently docked, and waiting for them at the landing site near the Governor's House was Dr. Kadowaski and three students. In a matter of minutes they were back inside the Garden and Rinoa remained with Squall all the way to the Health Center where Dr. Kadowaski asked her to remain outside while she ran some tests on Squall.

"You'll be the first person I'll let know if anything happens." The doctor told her as Rinoa first protested about being put outside the room. Rinoa grudgingly accepted and went out to be met by Zell. Another person was with him, one she didn't recognize. Zell introduced them.

"Rinoa, this is Ellone, or as we used to call her "Sis". She was part of the Orphanage Gang we had when the six of us lived at Edea's House."

The two women shook hands.

"Is Squall going to be okay?" Ellone asked.

Before Rinoa could answer a short man with a colorful frill around his neck came bounding towards them and stopped in front of Rinoa.

"Vere is Squall?" He asked.

"Dr. Odine, What are you doing here?" Asked Ellone.

"I heard dat the man who vanquished Ultaimecia and Adel needed medical attention so I came at vonce." He said.

"But what about the people of Esthar? There are still many wounded!" Said Ellone out of disbelief.

"He's more important, they can vait! Now, vere is he?" He asked again to Rinoa.

"He's being looked at by Dr. Kadowaski right now." Rinoa pointed in the direction.

"Vell, she vill need my help." He then scuttled off towards the medical wing.

The three watched him go and then three other figures appeared. A tall blonde haired man in a gray trench coat accompanied by a buff black man and a gray haired woman with an eye patch. Zell immediately got into fighting stance.

"Relax, Chicken-Wuss, I'm not here to rumble. How's Squall, Rinoa?"

Rinoa gave a soft smile, "We think he'll be fine but the doctors are checking him out to be sure."

The man nodded.

"Why the hell are you here, Seifer?" Zell said.

Seifer sighed and shook his head, "Have to make sure my rivals are in good health until I beat it out of them."

"CONCERNED." Said the woman with the eye patch.

"Yeah, Fujin ands us are all worried about Squall. We need to make sure thing are ran smoothly around here, ya know." Said the other man.

"Fujin, Rajin, let's go. Rinoa, let me know when he gets better. We need a rematch." Seifer then left without saying anything to Zell but merely nodded towards Ellone.

Rinoa spent most of the day with Zell, as Quistis was hanging out with Xu and training some new additions to the Garden, and Irvine and Selphie were chatting with the new head of the "Decorations Committee". Although Zell was fun to be around because of his energy, she was quickly getting tired. After the two of them playing a fourth round of cards, and Rinoa having most of Zell's collection (Zell wasn't any good at the game), she pardoned herself as she left him at the cafeteria and went back to the medical station.

Apparently, Doctor's Kadowaski and Odine didn't agree on many levels of revitalization. Rinoa sneaked past Dr. Kadowaski's office where she was having a loud argument with the doctor from Esthar.

Going into Squall's room, she sat down in front of him in a chair that accompanied the bed. Rinoa, again, moves a stray hair away from his face and smiled.

"Why do you always have to be so good looking." She said. She knew such comments from her would only make him retort something smug like "Whatever." But, Squall still lay there, unmoving and unresponsive.

She sighed. Just being with him, near him, was good. She then noticed a bulge coming from his left pocket of his coat. Not being one normally to snoop, she reached in there and picked out a small black box with a receipt that came from a shop in Dollet. Opening the box, she held her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. The box contained the exact ring that Squall had but it was reduced o be a ring that would fit Rinoa's hand only. Rinoa put her head down next to Squall's and quietly said, "Why do you have to be so perfect, even when you're trying hard not to be?"

"I guess you're the one to blame for it."

Rinoa jumped back and almost tripped over Squall's Gunblade that was left next to the bed.

"Squall! You're awake!" She went back to the bed and gave him a huge hug and kissed him on the cheek. She then shook him and said, "How long have you been awake?"

Squall groaned as he sat himself up, "You can thank the two loud doctors. Even though they argue, a lot, they still can help people. They told me to remain here and sleep for a bit. You're talking woke me up, again."

Rinoa jumped into the bed and put her arms around Squall's neck.

"I'm just so happy that you're ok."

Squall kissed her on the forehead. "I know."

She let go of him and held out the ring, "By the way, thank you for getting me this ring."

Squall shook his head, "Don't thank me, thank Zell. He's the one who actually made it. He just paid for the use of the shop in Dollet. He told me that he promised you he could make one just like it."

Rinoa gave a childish pout, then smiled and said, "Well, I know you were **_intending_ **on giving it to me, so I'm still happy."

A loud coughing made it known that they weren't alone. Cid Kramer had entered and was leaning against the doorway.

"Squall, you simply amaze me. Throw anything in your direction and you still come out better than when you went in."

Both Squall and Rinoa got up and saluted the Headmaster. Rinoa had done this so much upon meeting Squall that she now had it as habit.

Cid chuckled, "At ease. Squall I have something rather important I'd like to discuss with you. Rinoa, if you don't mind, can you wait for Squall in the Cafeteria?"

Rinoa nodded. As she left and was in the outer hallway when Zell, Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine came up and greeted her.

"Is it true? Is he finally up!" Asked Zell, panting

(He seemed to have ran from somewhere).

Rinoa nodded.

"Oh, yeah! High fives, everyone!" Said Selphie joyfully.

Quistis simply shook her head, "Unbelievable."

Irvine looked past Rinoa and then back to her. "So, where is 'Mr. Hero', anyway?"

Rinoa looked behind her shoulder, "Oh, he's talking with Cid. Cid, I guess has something big for Squall." Rinoa then turned to Zell, "By the way, Zell, thank you for making that ring for me."

Zell looked at her, confused, "What ring?"

"Oh, c'mon. Remember when I asked you if you could make a duplicate of Squall's ring for me? The one with the lion engraved on it?"

Zell nodded, "Yeah, I remember that, but Rinoa, I never got around to making it. Squall told me not to."

Rinoa pulled out the box, which she still had with her and showed it to Zell, "How then?"

Zell took the box opened it and examined the ring. "Huh, I sure as hell didn't make this for him. Did you see the engraving on the inside of the band?"

Rinoa took it away and read what was underneath:

"_Rinoa, I'll always be your knight, no matter the cost. I love you._"

Rinoa turned a deep scarlet as Selphie let out a big "Awwwww!"

Irvine took the ring and looked at it also, "This really doesn't sound like the Squall, I know. Rinoa, what did you do to him?"

"Humanized him, it sounds like." Laughed Quistis.

Rinoa, simply, just stared at the ring. A lot has happened since when they had first met. Sure, she wasn't fond of him when she had first met him. But things change, people change, and we all learn how to adapt when we make that change. Rinoa took the ring out from the box and slid it on her finger. The light illuminating from the garden gave the silver of the ring a magnificent sheen.

Rinoa smiled, "Well, you know Squall. Everyone knows more about him than himself."

Everyone chuckled in agreement.

Back at the Cafeteria, Rinoa sat with Quistis, the two of them staring at the entrance for Squall.

"I wonder what's taking so long?" Asked Quistis.

Rinoa was going to say something when the intercom chimed on.

"_Good Evening, Balamb Garden! This is your headmaster. Or should I say ex-Headmaster. Yes, it's true. I'm retiring. But, rests assure I'm leaving with all of you in mind. It's been a wonderful forty years being with this Garden. Damn! Has it been that long? Oh, well. Anyway, I'm going to miss everyone I've had the pleasure of meeting. But don't think I'm abandoning you. I'm leaving you all in good, capable, hands. Squall? You want to say a few words?"_

Rinoa, put a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. She knew what was coming up next.

"_No, sir."_

"_Oh, c'mon. Don't be that way! Tell everyone how you feel."_

"…"

"_Alright be that way. Squall is going to be your new Headmaster and also still have the title of Commander of the fighting advances for this Garden. Those who know Squall please congratulate him when you see him. For those of you who graduate and want to chat, you're free to see the wife and me. This is Cid Kramer saying goodbye. Squall, you want to say anything? Squall? Squall? Where did he go?"_

Rinoa looked at Quistis, who shrugged. Rinoa and Quistis left the table and headed out. Heading over to the elevator they found Zell standing right next to it.

"Has Squall come down yet?" Asked Rinoa.

Zell shook his head. "I heard it running but it hasn't come here, it sounded like it was going to where NORG used to be."

Quistis watched as Zell and Rinoa exchanged looks.

"Who's NORG?" She asked.

"NORG was the Garden Master, the one who financially backed up the Garden. When Squall, Rinoa, and I came back to the Garden to warn about the missiles that were heading towards it, the whole place was a mess. The Garden staff were searching for Headmaster Cid." Said Zell.

"Why?" Asked Quistis.

"Well, it's a long story. To make it short, NORG wanted the three of us to talk to him and confronted us on his belief that Cid was a traitor and that Squall should be killed to calm down Sorceress Edea. We ended up killing The Garden Master. NORG's old residence is on the basement level, I think that's where Squall went." Zell finished.

While Zell was jawing away, Rinoa was trying to wedge the doors open with her Shooting Star. When she got it to be a finger length open, Zell and Quistis both pulled to have it open. Looking down the shaft, Rinoa saw the elevator where Zell had predicted.

Rinoa turned to the two of them, "I'm going down there to see what's up, are you guys in?"

Zell and Quistis nodded.

"Ok, before we go, though, we should equip our GFs." Said Quistis.

Rinoa nodded. She closed her eyes as a flurry of different images flew at her. These individual images each had a powerful being in them. Her mind stopped at one, which displayed an aqua-blue colored serpent that was hissing.

"Leviathan." Rinoa said aloud. The serpent seemed to nod as if agreeing and then the images disappeared. Rinoa then heard Zell and Quistis say names aloud.

"Ifrit." Said Zell.

"Siren." Quistis said loudly.

The three of them nodded at each other. Rinoa turned back to the opened elevator and jumped in holding onto the cables as she slid down. Within a matter of seconds, the three of them were on top of the elevator cart. Zell bent low and opened the ceiling access panel and the three of them got in. It didn't surprise Rinoa that Squall wasn't in there but was more surprised that he left his Gunblade behind. Something she has never seen him do since she has met him.

"What's going on! Is Squall losing his damn mind?" Zell asked hysterically.

"Zell, calm down! I'm sure there's a good reason for this." Said Quistis.

Rinoa nodded and the three of them proceeded out the doors and into NORG's heavily multicolored chamber. When they came down the stairs they heard shouting. The three then sprinted around the corner to find Squall standing next to NORG's busted machine, holding his hands to his head, staggering around, and shouting at the top of his lungs:

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT! GET OUT! AHHHH!"

Rinoa ran with all her might towards him and tried to grab his arm.

"Squall! What's wrong? Tell me!" She cried out.

Squall's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and then, he collapsed.

Somewhere else, Ellone was staring blankly out somewhere. Along the sides of her face were two large, purple, hands. The owner of these gave a twisted smile.

"That should do it."

Rinoa found Squall's pulse dropped and gone. She quickly placed a hand on his chest and shouted out, "Full-Life!"

A pink light illuminated over Squall and three white feathers dropped down on him, which caused a green glow over his body. Rinoa put her two fingers to Squall's neck and found his pulse, again. She then shook him, "Squall? Squall?"

Squall still lay still.

Rinoa looked up at Zell and Quistis.

"What's happening?" She asked.

Both of them bent low over Squall.

"I don't know, but let's get him over to the Infirmary, and fast." Said Quistis.

Squall Leonhart woke up, once again. He put a hand to his forehead.

_Who was that tormenting Ellone? _He shook his head wearily. He really didn't have the answers. His best guess was to maybe go to Esthar and ask Ellone if everything was ok. Squall sat up in the bed. He soon noticed he wasn't the only one occupying it. To the right side of him was Rinoa. Curled up into a ball, her hand lying on Squall's chest. Squall smiled at this and also laughed quietly to himself. Having grown up with a pre-set mind to not to depend on others, or, to have anything to do with anyone else, Squall mostly laughed at himself than at the situation. Rinoa fidgeted which cause her to awaken from the dream she was having.

"Good Morning." Squall said.

Rinoa looked up at him in surprise then embraced him rather forcefully.

"Squall! Are you ok? What happened down there? I was so worried; are you sure you're alright?"

Squall nodded. "When I was with the Headmaster in his office, I got the disturbing image of Ellone, Sis, being tortured by someone. She was saying over and over in my head to follow her voice, to please save her. I don't really know why it led me to the basement level, but there her cries and screams were becoming louder and an errie voice was saying to me "Yes, SeeD, watch her suffer. The same will come to you soon, enough." It was becoming so intense I felt as though my skull was on fire. I guess that's when you found me."

Rinoa looked at Squall, terrified. "Squall…who could be doing this to you?"

Squall bent his head down and shook it. "I don't know."

For the first time since they've met, Rinoa was seeing Squall scared. She put her hands around him and softly rocked him.

"It's ok, Squall. We're going to get through this. We've gotten through worse things than this, haven't we?" She asked.

Squall nodded and looked up at her. "I think…we need to talk to the others."

She nodded and got up off the bed.

After re-telling the same story, the group agreed with Squall that they should head to Esthar. Squall asked Xu to handle the Garden in their absence. Boarding the Ragnarok, Selphie grabbed Rinoa's arm and took her to a place out of earshot of the others.

"Selphie, what is it?" Rinoa asked.

Selphie took another glance around to make sure that they weren't heard.

"Rinoa, I've got to ask you something. I've asked Irvine this, but he kind of dismissed it as being "stupid"."

Rinoa was a little taken back since Selphie was usually all about playfulness and rarely dead serious.

"What is it?" Rinoa asked.

Selphie took a deep breath. "Rinoa, with all that's been happening with Squall, do you think…"

Selphie made another quick to look, to make sure they weren't being heard.

"That we really didn't accomplish defeating Ultaimecia and that she's somehow coming back?"

Rinoa was taken back by this question. She wanted to say she agreed with Irvine, that it WAS a dumb question to be thinking. But, what was happening with Squall was a mystery and that with all mysteries anything could be possible.

"Well, I doubt so, but, I wouldn't rule anything out just yet."

Selphie seemed to brighten up.

The two then went to the cockpit where Selphie took control of the ship and within seconds they were airborne.

Sitting in a seat opposite Squall's, Rinoa watched him stare absent-mindedly out of the window as clouds raced by them.

Rinoa stared at her hands in front of her and closed her eyes.

_Would we ever have a moment's peace for us?_ She asked herself.

Her eyes came open as she felt Squall stroking her hand with his. He interlaced his fingers with hers and held tightly.

"I see you're wearing the ring." He said.

Rinoa smiled and nodded, even though it wasn't a question.

"Rinoa…" Squall began but was cut short as Selphie shouted, "We're here!"

As soon as she said it, the radio crackled.

"_Ragnarok, this is Esthar air station, over?"_

Everyone seemed taken back.

Selphie replied, "We acknowledge you, over."

"_Upon landing please report to the Presidential Palace. President Laguna wishes to speak with you, over."_

"Uh, okay. Over." Selphie replied. She then turned and looked at everyone, "What's that all about, I wonder?"

Upon landing, The group headed towards the palace where Ward was outside conversing, mutely, to Kiros. The two of them turned as the group approached.

Ward merely nodded and smiled.

"Hey, guys. Laguna is waiting inside." Said Kiros.

The group nodded and proceeded in.

Sitting at his desk, wearily shaking his head, with a bottle of some kind of Estharian liquor in front of him, Laguna Loire looked the worse, than they had ever seen him.

As Irvine closed the door behind them, Laguna quickly drew out his machine gun. He just as quickly put it away as he recognized the people before him.

"Hi guys." He said, wearily.

"You're a mess, Laguna. What happened?" Asked Squall.

Laguna sighed as he got up from the desk, then went around it and leaned on the rim in front of it.

He looked at the ground as he spoke.

"Two things. One, Ellone disappeared after coming back from Balamb Garden. Two, upon cleaning up the wreckage that Lunatic Pandora made…"

He paused, then shivered, and closed his eyes. "…We…We couldn't find Adel's body."

The whole room went dead silent.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T FIND HER BODY!" Erupted Zell.

"Zell, calm down!" Said Quistis, putting a hand on Zell's arm.

Laguna shrugged, "Well, we spent the better part of, what seems, half of a lifetime clearing that wreckage and we still haven't been able to find her."

Rinoa looked uneasily at Squall who returned the same gaze.

Quistis drew in a large breath and said, "Did both people turn up missing around the same time?"

Laguna nodded.

Rinoa watched as Squall turned his head down, as he always does when he goes deep into thought, and suddenly said aloud. "We've got a problem."

Everyone turned to look at Squall.

"If she has Ellone, then there might be a chance that we haven't seen the last of Ultaimecia. In my "vision" she was referring to me the way that Ultaimecia did. Always referring to me as a "SeeD", never by anything else." Squall walked to the back of the room.

The room went quiet once more. Rinoa watched as Selphie slugged Irvine in the shoulder and give him the biggest "I told you so!" look.

"So, what do we do, Squall?" Asked Zell.

Squall leaned his back against the side of the wall and shrugged. "To be honest, Zell, I don't really know. Ellone and Adel could be anywhere. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

Selphie raised a hand and started jumping up and down.

Squall sighed heavily, "Selphie, what is it?"

"Why don't we split up and see if we could find any clues to where they're at? I think it would help eliminate the places they could be, don't you think?"

Irvine nodded, "Yup, I think that would."

Quistis and Zell both nodded in agreement.

Rinoa watched as Squall thought about it.

"Ok." He said finally. "I think your right, Selphie. Where should we go, though, and how can we communicate with each other in case we actually do find something?"

Laguna went to the back of his desk and brought out three large devices, each one black and having a long antenna that formed a circle at the end.

"I think these will help you guys, they were given to us when we patrolled various parts of the world. The signals are really good. The thing that sucked, though, was that I damaged them when we were escaping from Esthar. Only recently have I had them repaired."

Laguna handed one to Zell, Irvine, and Rinoa.

Squall nodded, "Thanks, Laguna."

Laguna went to the back of his desk and brought out a small letter.

"Squall, I want to give you this, but please don't read it until your away from here, ok?"

Squall looked at him, suspiciously. "Why?"

Laguna drew in a deep breath. "It concerns… Never mind. Just promise me you'll read it when you're away from here."

Squall looked at the envelope and then nodded. "Ok."

This was the first Rinoa had seen Laguna so agitated. Maybe it was the drinking or the fact that Esthar was having a big problem on it's hands, but Laguna seemed really out of it. Though, based on the expression on his face when giving the letter to Squall, this letter seemed to be base of the iceberg.

Upon leaving, Zell and Quistis decided they were going to check Balamb and then Dollet. Irvine and Selphie said they were going to check Galbadia and Trabia. The only places left for Squall and Rinoa were Timber and Winhill. Upon arriving, the two were greeted by a very familiar figure.

"Watts!" Screamed Rinoa, happily, as she ran towards the blue bandanna-cladded figure.

"Good to see you, too, sir. Hiya, Squall, How've you been, sir?" Watts asked.

Squall smiled and shook his hand; "I've been okay, Watts. What have you been up to, recently?"

"Collecting information, Sir. In fact, I'm happy I ran into you two, because I have some information that I think you'll be interested in." Watts then, reached into his back pocket and produced a small piece of paper. He handed it over to Squall.

While Squall was looking it over, Rinoa, playfully, hit Watts on the shoulder. "So, how's Zone, Watts? What's he been up to?"

Watt's face dropped. He then looked over to the side, sadly.

"Sir…Zone, has gone missing since we left the White SeeD's ship. He's the one person I've been coming up with no news or whereabouts."

Rinoa held a hand to her mouth, a tear forming in the side of her right eye, she walked over and hugged Watts and whispered into his ear, "Don't worry, I'll find him. After all, the three of us got to liberate Timber, right?"

Watts nodded, "Yes, Sir."

Rinoa gave him another big hug and then turned to Squall, who was still absorbed in the information Watts gave him.

Squall seemed to finish reading it, and after doing so, looked up to Watts.

"Thank you, Watts, this'll help us out a bunch."

Watts beamed and saluted him, "Glad to be of help, Sir. Let me know if there's anything more I can do!"

Squall nodded and turned to Rinoa.

"Looks like we're going to Winhill." He said.

Rinoa nodded and turned to find that Watts had gone.

Zell Dincht walked into the street he had fondly remembered. Balamb seemed to be alive with guests what with the events that took place with the battle between the Balamb Garden and the Galbadia Garden. Zell walked along the street and went off to the last house on his left, his house. Walking inside, he was welcomed by the much-remembered aroma of his adoptive mother's cooking.

"Ma! I'm home!" He said as he entered.

There was no reply back.

"Ma?" Zell searched around the house only to find it empty.

He, then, found a note by the stove. Reading it, it turned out that his mother went on a trip with some friends and was asking a neighbor boy to look after the house. The food on the stove was a "thank you" for the house sitting kid.

Zell sighed in disappointment but was happy that his mother was doing all right.

Upon walking back down the street, he found Quistis waiting for him in front of a café close to the Train Station. Sipping a cammeal tea, Quistis looked up as Zell sat down across from her.

"So, how's your mother?" She asked.

Zell shrugged, "Fine, I guess. She wasn't home."

Quistis nodded and continued her tea. The two sat for awhile watching as various people walked by chatting amongst themselves in the harbor town's warm weather. One couple walked by holding hands. The man of this couple kissed his female companion.

Quistis sighed, despairingly.

Zell looked at her, "What's up?"

Quistis stared at her tea and started stirring it, dazily. She hadn't heard Zell.

"Instructor, what's wrong?" Asked Zell.

Quistis laughed, "_'Instructor'_. Is that all you guys are ever going to think of me as? An authority figure?"

Zell could tell something was really bothering her, he just wasn't sure what.

"No. You're more than that." He said earnestly.

Quistis bent her head down and shook it.

Zell grabbed her hand, "Tell me what's wrong, Quisty."

Quistis looked up at Zell and her eyes were filled with tears.

She closed her eyes and looked away, "It's hard." She began. "Squall and Rinoa. Irvine and Selphie. It's hard watching them and not…"

Zell could tell she was on the verge of a meltdown. He usually was very bad at these kinds of topics, and how to help, but it pained him to see her this way.

"Not, what?"

Quistis bit her lip and closed her eyes even harder; she then let out a struggled sigh. "To not feel…lonely." She opened her eyes to reveal that they were blood shot.

Zell was taken back by this. Quistis was never one to openly admit her feelings about anything since he knew her. She had always been so independent and secretive about her life, never really letting anyone on about how she was in her own life. In many ways she was kind of like Squall was before he met Rinoa. Although, she was more social than he was. Zell himself had never really told anyone about his romantic beliefs or wantings. Most of the time because, he was afraid of being laughed at or humiliated for them. Part of the scarring of growing up next to Seifer.

Zell got up from the table and walked around and hugged Quistis, which surprised her at first, but she quickly subsided and allowed him to hold her.

"Everything's going to be okay, Quistis." He said.

She nodded, fighting back tears as he slowly rocked her.

She rested her head against his chest and muttered, "I hope so."

The rest of the day was completely uneventful. After talking with various people, Balamb seemed to be the same as it was, with no news of strange characters or weird things happening. Upon leaving and heading to the Train Station, Quistis turned to Zell.

"Zell…could you do me a favor and please not tell the others what I told you? It's kind of embarrassing."

Zell nodded as he gathered their things, after paying the Conductor.

"No prob'."

Quistis smiled and the two of them boarded the train to Dollet.

"Irvine! Watch out for that Gezzard!"

Upon arriving in the Galbadia area, Irvine and Selphie were attacked by various monsters.

"You need to worry more about that Wendigo, than me with a simple Gezzard." He gave her a cocky-smile, only to have it wiped away as the Gezzard attacked him with its claws.

After finishing off the Wendigo, Selphie looked over her shoulder, watching Irvine wipe blood from his scratched face. "Ha ha, serves you right." She said.

Irvine then sent a shotgun shot that defeated the demonic lizard-like thing.

Selphie reached into her Item Bag and brought out a potion that she gave to Irvine.

After using it, the two then crossed the Galbadia Plains and into Galbadia Garden. After it's battle with Balamb Garden and the fight with the Sorceress Edea, the Galbadia government had the Garden immobilized and the staff reinstated. There were current problems with Martine. A lot of Galbadia thought he gave way too easily to the Sorceress and could have prevented her take over of the Garden. The mothers of the students and soldiers who died in the Balamb/Galbadia fight, however, made most of these complaints.

When Selphie and Irvine made their way in, they surprisingly found themselves trying to make way through a crowd of people.

Irvine tapped the shoulder of one of the students.

"Hey, man, what's with the people?"

The student shrugged, "Martine is stepping down and has named some other guy as his successor."

Selphie raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"This part's almost a joke, with all the fuss everyone's making about the battle with Balamb Garden, Deling City recommended the guy who helped start that battle in the first place. Some guy named Seifer Almasy."

Irvine and Selphie both went wide-eyed, "WHAT!"

The student nodded, "That's all our reaction, as well. Apparently, they liked how the guy organized the attack on the other Garden, and thought he would make a good Headmaster because of it."

Selphie was stunned and speechless, Irvine wasn't. He was cursing loudly.

It soon was drowned out as Seifer came out, accompanied by Fujin and Rajin, and the whole crowd erupted with applause.

Seifer waived with his Gunblade held high in the air. He didn't make a speech; he was all about appearance. Irvine gritted his teeth making low growling noises. He couldn't decide whether or not this was humiliating or stupid of his Garden to do.

When Seifer left, the crowd seemed to dissipate allowing Selphie and Irvine easier access to the entrance. Upon entering, Selphie and Irvine made their way to the Headmaster's office. Standing outside the door were Fujin and Rajin.

Rajin saw them and bellowed out a laugh, "BWAHAHAHAHA! Look who it is Fujin, right on time as always, ya know."

The two looked at each other confused.

"What do you mean?" Asked Selphie.

Fujin turned to Rajin, "EXPLAIN!"

Rajin nodded and turned to Selphie and Irvine. "Seifer knew you was comin', saw you in the crowd, ya know. He told us to let you guys know that he'll talk to you two tomorrow."

As Squall and Rinoa walked throughout the courtyard they looked around as they found the place to be deserted.

"Where is everyone?" Asked Rinoa.

Squall merely shrugged. Winhill wasn't the most heavily populated place, but people here were rarely in doors. It felt very much like a ghost town for some reason. Squall's mind went back to the information Watts handed him:

_Several people have been turning up missing in Winhill. The town's citizens have also been complaining about strange noises being heard all over the place and that numerous amounts of grave robbings that have occurred. With that, that all of these graves, are in fact vacant. Winhill begs anyone to help them._

Squall had read this over and over and he even read it to Rinoa on the trip over, trying to make any sense of what it meant.

Rinoa had no idea, either. The whole town's disappearance and seeing so many graves dug up with its contents missing was unnerving. After the day was slowly ending, Squall and Rinoa decided to call it quits for the day and headed for the Inn.

Going inside, it was dark and also unoccupied. Regardless, Squall signed their names in the guest book and left some money on the counter for their stay. Squall at first picked two room keys but Rinoa slugged him and told him she wanted to stay with him.

"Let me guess, I'm sleeping on the floor?" Squall smirked.

Rinoa gave a mischievous grin as she looked over her shoulder at him, "Only if you're bad."

They went into their room and unpacked. Rinoa decided to take a shower, leaving Squall alone. He decided this would be a good time to read the letter Laguna had given him. Opening it, he unfolded the paper, which looked to have been written with a very shaky hand. Squall read it quietly and, after about a minute into it dropped it to the floor. He then ran and opened the door and headed out.

Rinoa heard the door close as she was just getting ready to get out. She only wanted a quick shower, any way. With a towel rapped around herself, she ran into the bedroom to find it vacant.

"Squall?"

She then looked to the floor and found the letter, she quickly picked it up and began to read it:

_Squall,_

_I know you and I haven't talked much since we had first met. The situations at the time prevented us from talking about regular things. Anyways, my reason for writing to you is to tell you something that would be very important to you. I apologize for not telling you this in person but…It's about your birth mother. I knew her and from what I understand from Ellone you know about her too, although, not how she was related to you. Raine Leonhart was your mother, Squall. Again, I'm sorry to give you this vital piece of information so late, but there's a reason for that and for why I was having a hard time to telling you this in person._

_Ah, dammit! My leg's cramping up again._

…_My reason for not telling you this is…because I know who your father is as well…It's me. I didn't know it at the time and only found out after reuniting with Ellone. I'm sorry. I hope that you and I can still communicate after you have read this letter. I'm not surprised if you feel any hatred for me after reading this. I really hope you and I can still see things out._

_Laguna Loire_

Rinoa held the letter in her hand and looked to the door where Squall exited and softly whispered, "…Squall."

Rinoa got dressed and left the Inn to search for him. He wasn't in the courtyard but she heard crashing sound coming from the Tavern across the street. Running into there, she found Squall breaking chairswith his Gunblade.

"Squall!" She yelled as she went to him. He finally stopped and saw she was there.

Rinoa noticed he had tears coming down his face and his teeth were bared.

"That son-of-a-bitch…he didn't say anything to me. Nothing! Until now." Squall then collapsed to the floor and threw his Gunblade away as he put his hands to his face and bent over.

Rinoa knelt down and hugged him.

"Why couldn't he tell me? I know he's a moron, but…" Squall started shaking.

Rinoa didn't really know what to say to him. "Squall…"

Squall shook his head, "Ellone once told me that while he was looking for her that Raine had given birth to their baby and was sad that he wasn't there to see it…to see me." He corrected.

Rinoa nodded. "Squall, I imagine, when we recently saw him, that this pained him to tell you because he knew how you were going to react. That's why he was in such a bad shape."

Squall turned his head away, "He's been living and ruling Esthar for so long and never has he tried looking for me. He came to the orphanage looking for Ellone, one time, and never knew that I was there, me, his own flesh and blood."

Rinoa sat next to Squall, "It sounds pretty sad for him as well. He only learned recently that he had a son. I'm pretty sure he feels that he had abandoned you on some level."

"Doesn't say that in the letter he wrote. Why are you defending him, anyway? This guy has spent his life clueless about everything. Acting on half-assed guesses. He learns he had me and he does nothing."

Rinoa sighed, "Squall he has done so much as well. He helped give a country its freedom back. He rescued someone you hold dear. Isn't that important to you?"

Squall sighed deeply and nodded.

Rinoa continued, "You have so much to gain by knowing this, you know? You found out that you have a family. Besides Zell, the others don't really have that, Squall."

Squall closed his eyes, nodded, and then got up. He wiped at his eyes and then sighed. "I need to talk to him about this as soon after we find Ellone and Adel."

Rinoa nodded. She looked around the room they were in and got a weird feeling that this place had a ghostly atmosphere to it.

"Squall…where are we?" She asked.

Squall, too, looked around. "It looks like an old Tavern. It…" He stopped.

Rinoa saw him staring at a sign above the bar saying: "Welcome to the Leonhart Tavern."

"Squall…Did you know what this place was before you came in?" Rinoa whispered.

Squall shook his head.

The two then went around the whole Tavern finding odd things; one of them was a picture of Raine, Laguna, and Ellone standing in front of the bar. Rinoa picked up the photo, which had been freed from its frame, probably due to a looting, and she folded it and put it in her pocket. Going upstairs, they found Raine's bedroom, which was also looked as a victim of looting and was entirely stripped. Squall walked around the room and came upon a desk that had all of its drawers opened a photo was hidden under a thick layer of dust. Pulling it out, Squall found a picture of Raine holding an infant. Him. Squall stood there staring at the picture. Rinoa came up to him and looked at the picture, with him.

She grinned, "You were cute as a baby."

Squall shot her a sardonic smile, "Yeah, whatever."

She took the picture from him and put it away the same as the other.

They went all over the bedroom and came to a window looking out to the back of the Tavern to a grassy field. There they noticed a gray stone.

"Squall, is that…?" Rinoa started asking, but Squall had already left the room and was down to the first floor and went out a door that was next to the bar, which led outside. Squall ran all the way over to the stone and stopped.

Rinoa was soon next to him and they both saw what they knew already. It was Raine's tombstone. What they weren't expecting, though was that the "tomb" it was declaring was both dug up and empty.

It was a very cold morning as Irvine Kinneas got up from bed. After Fujin and Rajin had told him and Selphie that Seifer would talk with them the very next day, Irvine decided that the two of them stay at the Garden. Irvine had met up with some old buddies of his and they agreed to have the two of them stay. Selphie had roomed with an old flame of his, and boy, did Irvine have wild dreams last night. He grinned, as he looked himself in the mirror. He knew that Selphie was the only girl he wanted to be with, but he still had his ideas; never would he admit them to her, though.

Later he met up with Selphie and they headed back to the Headmaster's office. It still made Irvine sick that Seifer was having that title here. The door to the Headmaster's office was vacant; Fujin and Rajin were nowhere in sight. Selphie knocked on the door.

"Come in." Seifer called.

They entered, sitting behind the desk which had the head of a Ruby Dragon on a mount above it, Seifer was leering as the two came in and sat down in the seats in front of him.

"Why am I not surprised to see Squall's grunts here?"

Irvine shot him a dirty look and was about to retort when Selphie laid a hand on his arm, "Seifer, please. We need your help." She said.

Seifer laid back and put his hands behind his head.

"Why should I?" He asked.

"Because after all the mess you made when helping out Ultaimecia, you could, at least, try to redeem yourself and not further taint my Garden." Fumed Irvine.

Seifer pointed a finger at Irvine, "Watch it. You're still a student at this Garden. MY Garden."

Selphie sighed, despairingly, "Seifer, will you at least hear us out?"

Seifer gave a cocky-grin and shrugged, "Depends on what you have to say. Ah, hell, just spill it."

Selphie told Seifer everything from Squall's visions from Ellone to going to Esthar and learning of her abduction and the missing Adel, then about the splitting of the groups. When she finished, Seifer looked as though he hadn't heard a word she said. He was, instead, looking out the window, humming.

Irvine slammed his fist against the table, "SEIFER!"

Seifer turned his head again and grinned, "Calm down, Kinneas, I heard her. Not that her story interests or worries me."

Selphie grabbed hold of Irvine's arm again as he looked as though he was either going to attack Seifer or grab the desk and hurl it at him.

Seifer seemed to enjoy this all the more. He then reached underneath the desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. "While you still have all of this energy, Kinneas, I got something that you two may find interesting. It's from General Caraway."

Selphie looked at Seifer in surprise, "Rinoa's Dad?"

Seifer nodded, "Right now he's away at Trabia supervising the rebuilding of the Trabia Garden, I put in the orders to have it rebuilt and have some technicians from Fisherman's Horizon to help lead the project."

Selphie was stunned and so was Irvine who stopped struggling against Selphie's grasp and sat back down.

Seifer grinned, "Don't think for one minute I'm getting soft. If I'm going to run this Garden I need my image to look a little more polished, this is by no means me 'fixing' things that I did in the past."

Selphie sighed. Seifer was always going to be Seifer.

Seifer continued, "General Caraway got news from his caretaker that some things have been happening at his mansion. Weird things. I need you two to check it out. Who knows? It may or may not be involved with your "Adel/Ellone" problem."

Selphie nodded.

After taking the sheet, the two of them left.

"Kinneas! Get back here!" Seifer called out.

Irvine clenched his fists. Selphie watched as he stomped his way into Seifer's office.

"Close the door." Seifer said.

Irvine slammed it.

Selphie waited in the hall and then five minutes later Irvine returned with a perplexed look on his face.

"What happened?" Asked Selphie.

Irvine looked down at the piece of paper in his hands and then at Selphie.

"He just made me a SeeD."

Selphie took a step back. "What?"

"He said, 'You are going to be totally useless to them and this Garden if you aren't a SeeD. It's sad to say you're a smidge better than the rest of the students here. Don't disappoint me, Kinneas.'"

Selphie started jumping up and down, "WOOOOHOOO! Irvine's a SeeD! We need to go out and celebrate!"

Irvine grinned broadly and grabbed Selphie around the waist and pulled her close to him. "I can think of a way."

Upon arriving in Dollet, the air in the area was dense and cold. Zell shuddered as they walked down the street.

"Wow, is it cold here." He said.

Dollet was usually very warm and the place was now very hard to see through as a thick fog was rolling into the area.

Quistis nodded at what Zell said. "There doesn't seem to be any people out, either." The streets were usually filled with night goers who went to the saloons, but now were deserted. Zell and Quistis made their way to the town's city fountain. Zell felt certain nostalgia hit him as he remembered this was the place where him, Squall, and Seifer had been when they decided to defy orders and inspect the radar tower. Zell looked into the direction the tower was at and noticed that an eerie purple-ish glow was coming from it.

Quistis looked in the direction Zell was looking at and held a hand to her mouth.

"What's going on here?" She asked.

Zell went into one of his fighting stances, "Don't know. But, I'll bet this might be where Adel is hiding and where she's keeping Sis'."

"Then we should hurry." Said Quistis.

The two ran up the street and as they did, Zell had the unsettling feeling that the light at the tower was getting brighter. They made their way across the bridge and were about to head up the hill when they heard an unsettling, ear-piercing, scream. It was coming from the tower. Zell and Quistis sped up their ascent up the trail and finally arrived at the tower. Looking up, they saw the light was coming from the top.

"Got your GF equipped?" Quistis asked.

Zell nodded, "You?"

Quistis nodded.

They went inside and found the inside of the tower crawling with Anacondors. Several skeletons lay near them, but that wasn't the most distressing sight. They were guarding the elevator.

"How many of these things are there!" Zell said, wide-eyed.

Quistis sighed, "This is going to be long, I can tell."

Zell gave her a grin, "Maybe not."

Before she could ask him what, Zell reached into his Items pouch and gave Quistis an Aura Stone. Light engulfed Quistis' body and she glowed a powerful yellow color.

Quistis grinned at Zell, "Thanks." She then turned her head away, pushed her index finger and thumb into her eyes, and turned her head back to the vipers and removed her hand as blue lasers shot out from her eyes and sliced through about five Anacondors.

Zell smirked, "Not bad. Now it's my turn." Zell then threw a stone on himself and started charging each one laying hit after hit, after hit. He then threw his body back as flames started emit from his shoulders as soon as the flames stopped he hit the ground causing the ground to crack, and the remaining Anacondors were flying in the air and never came back.

Zell brushed himself off and looked to Quistis who was grinning. "Show off." She said.

Zell grinned and motioned to the elevator, "C'mon."

Getting onto the platform, Zell hit the switch and soon they were heading up.

Quistis looked above them, as the light was becoming more intense. When they reached the top the light seemed to decant revealing a woman and a child. The woman was holding the child up in the air, by its shirt.

"Who the hell are you?" Zell yelled as he got back into a fighting stance.

The woman turned, she had long black hair and was dressed in a long black dress that curled at the hem. Her eyes were startling, blue flames emitted from them, no pupils were visible.

Zell stopped dead as he looked at the woman's face. "I…I know you."

Quistis looked inquiringly at Zell, but Zell still had his attention on the mystery woman in front of them.

The woman gave a smirk and whispered, "_Die, SeeD_."

Without warning, an energy blast came from her and projected Zell right off the tower and in the air, then threw him a few miles away.

"Zell!" Quistis yelled. She then turned to the mystery woman, but she had disappeared.

Once she was back down, Quistis ran with all her might away from the tower and started calling out, "Zell! Where are you!"

A few yards away in a thick bush, she heard a faint groaning sound. Running to it she found Zell badly bruised and bleeding in certain areas.

"Zell! Are you alright?" She quickly administered a 'Cura' spell on him and then helped him up.

"Are you ok, mister?" The two of them turned to see the little kid that the woman was threatening looking up at them.

Zell gave a smile, "I'll be fine. What happened here, kid?"

The little kid shrugged, "Don't know. I woke up this morning and everyone was gone. Mommy, Daddy, everyone. I was going to the tower to see if the Galbadia soldiers were still there and that's when that strange lady grabbed me. She said she wanted to harvest my soul."

Quistis gave Zell a startled look.

Zell still looked at the kid; "Did she say anything else? Did she say why?"

The kid nodded, "She said that she needed twelve thousand souls to bring someone named Ultaimecia back to life."

"Tch. Knew it." Said Zell.

" 'Twelve-thousand souls'? Zell, this town has seventeen hundred people!" Quistis was starting to sound scared.

Zell understood why she was scared. It meant that Adel was trying to resurrect Ultaimecia by basically annihilating the population in every town.

"Zell, we need to contact Squall." Quistis said.

Zell nodded and reached into his pocket only to find that the radio that Laguna had given them had been destroyed when Zell had landed in the bush.

"Ah, no." Zell moaned.

Quistis shook her head; "This isn't good."

Zell threw the busted thing away. "Hey kid, are you…"

The kid had vanished.

Zell shrugged and paced, thinking.

"Zell, who was that woman at the tower? You said you knew her."

Zell stopped dead in his pacing and turned to Quistis.

"What Adel's planning isn't our only problem. That woman, I've seen her before when Ellone sent us to "the dream world" the first time. That woman was there."

Quistis knew Zell was shocked by what he saw and was struggling to tell her.

"So, who is she?"

Zell bent his head low, "She's Julia Heartilly, Rinoa's dead mother."

Quistis stared at him, open mouthed, "What?"

Zell nodded.

"How can that be?"

Zell shrugged, "Don't know. But, I really think we need to re-group with the others. Since the radio's busted I suggest we take the train back to Galbadia and meet with Irvin and Selphie, if they're still there. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with Squall and Rinoa there, too."

Quistis nodded, "I agree, the quicker the better."

The two then sprinted back to the edge of town.

Upon arriving at General Caraway's Mansion, Selphie could already tell that something was a miss.

"Does it fell cold here to you?" She asked Irvine.

Irvine nodded, "Yup, something's going on."

They entered the estate and found the hall illuminated with a greenish glow. Going foreword they heard the same unsettling chanting that was too familiar.

_Hemos…_

_Muse-eh…_

_Hemos…_

_Hemos-eh…_

"Irvine…" Selphie suddenly shuddered as she heard it more. Irvine took her hand and squeezed it.

"You're with me, it's ok." He said reassuringly. The last time they heard this rhythmic chanting was when they were fighting Sorceress Edea. They proceeded upstairs to the General's office and found the source of where the light was coming from. As soon as they entered, the light quickly vanished and they found a woman with her back towards them looking at the wall behind the desk. This woman was dressed in a snowy-white dress with black symbols that came down the back.

"Excuse me, who are you and what are you doing here?" Asked Irvine, who already had his Exetor out and was pointing it directly at the woman's head.

The woman turned around.

Irvine and Selphie both took a step back as they looked at the woman's face. She had a beautiful face, but it was her eyes that were startling as there was no pupils but fiery red flames coming from them.

"_SeeDs." _She hissed.

"Who are you!" Yelled Selphie, she got into fighting position with her Strange Vision out and ready.

"_I am Grief." _Her voice still had a low hiss to it.

"What do you want?" Asked Irvine.

Grief smiled, "_We want our children, we want the Loire, we want twelve-thousand souls for Adel, and more…"_

Selphie shuddered; the rhyming along with the hissing made her shudder.

Irvine stared at her, " 'Twelve thousand souls for Adel'? The Loire? Children?"

Grief nodded, "_Give us these things and Sorrow and Grief will not attack, Give us these things not and be sure to watch your back._"

_This woman's off her rocker!_ Thought Irvine.

Grief then clapped her hands twice and at the end of the second clap, two Malboros appeared.

"_You have our message, spread the word, you'll see us again soon, rest assured."_ Grief then vanished.

Getting off the Train in Deling City, Squall and Rinoa made their way around town and to the Galbadia Hotel. Before they had left Winhill Squall, at first tried radioing Quistis and Zell but got no reply. He then tried Irvine and Selphie and got no answer either. Both him and Rinoa agreed that they should first try finding Irvine and Selphie since they were the closest and took a train to the city.

Luck granted them fortune, just as they were paying for their room, Irvine, carrying a badly beaten Selphie, came running into the Hotel.

Squall and Rinoa immediately ran to them.

"Irvine! What happened?" Asked Squall as he assisted in tilting Selphie's head up as Irvine administered a Remedy potion, which she wearily drank.

Irvine shook his head, "You'll never believe it, but, we think we know what Adel's up to."

The four of them sat in the lobby as Selphie was recovering.

"We went to General Caraway's Mansion from Galbadia Garden's new Headmaster Seifer's orders."

Squall looked at him questioningly.

Irvine shook his head, "I'll tell you about THAT later. Anyways, when we arrived at the mansion we met a strange woman who went by the name "Grief". She told us that Adel needed twelve-thousand souls for something, not only that but she said that she also needed something called " the Loire" and her child, well, her and another person called "Sorrow"."

Rinoa held a hand to her mouth, "Oh my god, Squall, do you think that's what happened to the people of Winhill?"

Irvine looked at both of them, "What happened in Winhill?"

Squall sighed, "Well, the entire town appears to have vanished. We met up with Watts at Timber and he gave us a report that Winhill, and its inhabitants have been turning up missing, and that graves have been turning up missing. Not to mention, an eerie sound has been forming all over the town."

Selphie, who no had fully recovered, looked up in terror. "Squall… When we arrived at the mansion, Irvine and I…We heard the same chanting when…All of us faced Edea at Galbadia Garden."

Everyone went dead silent.

The silence was interrupted as Zell came charging into the Galbadia Hotel.

"Zell!" Called Selphie.

Zell saw the group and heaved a loud sigh; he then turned to the open doors and called out, "Quistis, they're in here!"

Quistis soon came in the same way Zell did, both looked extremely worn out.

"What happened to you two?" Asked Squall.

Zell didn't acknowledge Squall but was more focused on Rinoa as he was catching his breath. "Rinoa…Your…Your mother…" He was panting like crazy.

Rinoa looked at him with uncertainty. "What about my mother?"

Quistis, who hadn't beaten herself as much as Zell, was able to speak more plainly. "Rinoa, we saw your mother, she's alive, I guess, and is taking orders from Adel."

Rinoa got up, her eyes wide with alarm; "No…That can't be true…She's…She's dead!"

Zell was able to stand ground again, he put a hand on Rinoa's shoulder, "It's true, Rinoa. When we got to Dollet, she had annihilated the whole town. Your mother and Adel need twelve thousand souls to reawaken Ultamiecia. I know it's your mother because when Squall, Selphie, and I first went to 'The dream World' we saw Laguna and her."

Selphie held a hand to her mouth, "She…She must be "Sorrow"."

Everyone turned to Selphie.

" "Sorrow"? What's she talking about?" Asked Quistis.

Squall sighed, "Irvine and Selphie were just telling us that at General Caraway's Mansion they met another woman who was calling herself "Grief". Grief said that her and another person called "Sorrow" are working for Adel and that they are to collect twelve thousand souls."

Irvine groaned, "All to resurrect Ultamiecia? This can't be good."

They all nodded in agreement. Well, almost all.

Zell looked around, "Where's Rinoa?"

Rinoa ran with all her might to the Mansion with one thing going on in her mind, _It's not true, it can't be true, it just can't!_

She bursted through the door and went out the back. Her father, after her mother's death, had a stone house to have her tomb in. Rinoa had visited it a lot, especially when she had gotten into fights with her father and visited it for consolation. It was her safe haven until she decided to run away and join the Timber Owls. Entering the tomb she found her mother's grave, with the casket lid lying on the floor and the grave itself vacant.

The six of them stayed at the Galbadia Hotel and very next morning still unsure on what to do or what to think.

Rinoa was the quietest of them all. When she had gotten back from the mansion, she refused to see anyone and locked herself in the room and cried herself to sleep. As all of them were in the lobby of the hotel, she leaned herself against Squall, the only person she wanted to be by, at the moment.

"So," Said Zell, interrupting the stillness, "What do we do now?"

Everyone remained silent.

Selphie sighed, "Well, there's still two places we haven't checked out. Trabia and FH."

Squall nodded.

"Do we have any idea, any better clues to follow on, where Adel's at?" Asked Quistis.

Again, nobody answered.

All of a sudden, Selphie gave a startled yelp.

"Selphie? What's wrong?" Asked Irvine.

Selphie's eyes went wide, "Irvine, do you remember what Grief said to us?"

Irvine thought for a moment than he too, gasped, "…That's it!"

Squall looked at the two of them, "What's it?"

" Grief said to us: "We want our children, we want the Loire, we want twelve thousand souls for Adel, and more…" The way she said "_Loire"_. Do you think she means L-O-I-R-E?" Said Irvine.

"Laguna!" Yelled Zell.

"Wait, what could they possibly want with Laguna?" Asked Quistis.

"Uh, hello? He was the one who imprisoned Adel, remember?" Quipped Selphie.

"What do you think, Squall?" Asked Irvine.

Squall on the other hand looked as though he wasn't paying attention. He was looking off to the side.

Rinoa looked up at him, "Squall?"

Squall closed his eyes, "We need to see Laguna, and we need to go to FH, fast."

Ellone Loire awoke with the same pain felt in her body as she had when she arrived. Her head had an even more tremendous pain to it, as it couldn't even think let alone process without enduring an extreme amount of pain.

She remembered going back to Esthar by train and the train coming to a halt. There was yelling, screaming, and then the train compartment she was in was ripped in half. Standing at the "new" entrance was Adel. Ellone remembered herself screaming. Then everything went black. She then reawoke in a bizarre compound and then she remembered two long hands placed on the sides of her head, sending out more torments into her mind and a voice whispering, "You will do what I say, child, or you'll die more horribly than you can possibly fathom." Everything went black again after that. Now, she was chained to a wall. She looked around the room and noticed that she wasn't the only one imprisoned here. A man, a little bit younger than her was chained to a wall across the room. He was groaning out of pain. He wearily opened his eyes and spotted her.

"I…I know you." He said.

She looked at him a little more closely, but due to the lack of light it was hard to fully make him out. She saw him grin and then it hit her.

"Zone? Is that you?" She remembered the sexually deviant man who was aboard the White SeeD's ship who, along with another man named Watts; both were hiding out from the Galbadia Soldiers.

Zone nodded.

"What…How did you end up here?" She asked.

Zone groaned as he turned his head away, "I…was hiding out in Winhill, when this woman dressed in White spotted me. The whole place was in panic; this woman in white was slaughtering the place. Bodies were flying everywhere. I did my best to hide but she found me. Her eyes…They weren't normal. Red flames were coming out of them. She pointed at me and said, "You…You know the girl." Then everything went black. I remember feeling as though someone was reaching into the deep parts of my brain, getting hold of things that I kept secret to myself. I…"

He stopped as he looked down the far end of the hall and gave a startled cry.

Ellone looked towards the direction he was looking at as two figures appeared. Both of them women, both had long black hair, and both…had flames coming from their eyes. There were differences; the one in white had red flames coming from her eyes, the other blue. Zone was squealing in terror as they walked past them. Neither of them seemed interested in either of them. Ellone watched them as they passed. She suddenly found her blood frozen as she looked at the one in white. She recognized that face! It couldn't be. That face, the one she cried for when it's owner had passed away, that face, to which brought her joy for so long ago.

"Raine…" Ellone whispered.

The woman in white stopped. She held that for about a couple of seconds then resumed following her companion to the next room.

In a dark room that was lit only by a dozen candles, sitting in an impressively large chair Adel gave a not often seen smile as her two womanly soldiers came in.

" Welcome back, Sorrow, Grief, what news do you bring me?"

Grief walked foreword and knelt, "_The SeeDs are aware of our presence being there. They are strong, foolish, too. They're filled with thoughts of ending you."_

Adel nodded, "As I thought they would be. Tell me, is Dollet done with?"

Sorrow nodded.

"Good. Sorrow, I want you to head to Trabia. Grief, go to Fisherman's Horizon. After you're done there head to Esthar; bring me Loire, bring me the souls."

Sorrow and Grief nodded and then Sorrow vanished.

Grief remained.

Adel looked at her, questioningly, "Yes, Grief?"

"_Will the SeeDs follow the man, to fall in the trap, which is Adel's plan?" _She asked.

Adel smiled, "They will and with their souls, I shall be able to get Ultaimecia back, once again."

Sorrow nodded, thinking this made sense and then, like the other, promptly vanished.

Adel sat back against the massive chair and brought her hands together.

_Soon _She thought _soon I'll be able to get ahold of that power that I felt, only briefly, and this time, be able to wield it. How fortunate I was to find those two and bring these two which will lead those SeeD's to releasing their souls…_

It was decided that back at the Galbadia Hotel, that they should all go this time. Fisherman's Horizon, FH, was where they planned on going. If something was going to happen there, Zell was planning on telling Xu to have the Garden depart as soon as they got there. Irvine contacted the Presidential Palace, but was unable to get ahold of Laguna. Instead he talked with Kiros about the situation.

"_Say that one more time, Julia is back from the dead! Are you serious?"_

Irvine sighed, he knew this wasn't going to be easy to explain.

"Look, Kiros, just make sure that Laguna's some place safe, ok?"

"_But, explain, again, why Julia is after him. It doesn't make sense."_

Irvine groaned, "Look, for right now, just take our word on it. She's working for Adel and for some reason, Laguna's a target."

There was a pause and then, "_…Alright. I guess you guys know what's going on more than we do. But that's still pretty damn weird, if you ask me."_

The transmission ended and Irvine fell to his seat.

Rinoa sat looking out the Ragnarok's window as clouds zoomed by.

Squall put a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it.

She looked at him and smiled.

Rinoa looked into his eyes and smiled more. Squall had changed so much since she had first met him, and all for her.

Rinoa thoughts subsided when they finally arrived at FH.

Everything looked normal from above as they soon landed near the Governor's House. Stepping out into the sun they found children playing happily in the area.

"Everything here looks fine." Said Quistis as they stepped out of the aircraft.

Squall knew better though, he turned to the group, "It seems that way, never the less, there's always a calm before the storm. Zell, I want you to head over to the Garden and tell Xu and Nadia to be ready to leave at a moment's notice."

"Gotcha'." Zell saluted and then was off running to the Garden.

The rest of the group went heading into town. Rinoa told Squall that she needed to go to the Shop and see about having her Shooting Star weapon sharpened. Quistis went off to an Items shop to replenish on supplies, which left Squall with Selphie and Irvine. The three headed deeper into town, only until Selphie stopped.

Both Irvine and Squall turned to look at her.

"What is it?" Asked Squall.

Selphie put her hand against her arms and started rubbing them.

"Is it cold here?" She asked.

Both Squall and Irvine were dressed rather warmly but they could feel it too.

Irvine nodded, "It is, and if I'm not mistaken, that means either Grief or Sorrow's here."

Squall nodded and the three quickened their pace. They followed the railroad tracks all the way to the spot where all six of them had regrouped during the aftermath of the Galbadia Missile Launch. Coming up to where it was visible. Selphie let out a startled yelp as they saw the same woman in white Irvine and Selphie had met at General Caraway's Mansion. Grief.

What was more startling and perhaps horrifying was that numerous bodies surround around Grief.

Squall immediately pulled out his Gunblade and, along with Selphie and Irvine, charged into the open area.

Grief looked over her shoulder and smiled as she saw the three figures come at her. They stopped about ten feet away.

"Are you "Grief"?" Asked Squall.

Grief still had her back to them; she nodded.

Squall wasn't sure what to make of this person. She wasn't attacking them; she was simply standing there, not doing anything even though she was being challenged.

Squall was about to say something when she turned. Her eyes burning ruby flames, like Irvine and Selphie described, really did show a menacing presence and her smile playful, thus sick and twisted.

Her face…

Squall found himself staring at that face. He knew that face, but where, and at what time?

Then Grief spoke.

"_At last. The child of my womb has come to me, now we shall see how obedient he'll be."_

Squall found himself blinking. "What are you talking about?"

Grief smiled, _"He does not know of the past, but that will surely come to an end. He will know, oh yes, he will know, and his mother's task he will attend."_

Irvine shook his head, "She's nuts, I tell you."

Squall hadn't heard him; he was still staring at this woman. "Who are you?"

Grief cocked her head to the side, her flames growing brighter, "_Why dear boy, who's so confused, you must already know. Your eyes show that you found the clues to who I am, to who I was, so long ago. You know whom you see. You know who I am. Now be a good boy and give your soul to me, my little lamb." _

Squall stared at her, blankly. "My soul? What do you want with my soul?"

Squall found the flame like eyes breathing deep into his eyes, and he found himself, for some reason, completely numb.

Irvine and Selphie watched all this and both were yelling at Squall.

"Squall! What are you doing! Don't listen to her!" Selphie was both yelling and shaking with fear.

Both Irvine and Selphie took a step back in shock as Squall turned to them and his eyes were glazed over and then turned white, the pupils disappeared.

"Must…do…what…mother…says." Squall said hypnotically.

Selphie turned to Irvine, "What's happening to him?"

Irvine didn't know, but he knew they've let this go on for long enough. He walked up to Squall and hit him in the back of the head with the holster of his Exetor.

"Snap out of it Squall!" Irvine turned back to Grief and started firing.

Zell had just met back up with Quistis and Rinoa when they heard Irvine's gun going off. Without saying anything, the trio ran with all their might to the origin of the sound. When they arrived, Squall was lying on the ground and only Irvine and Selphie were doing battle with Grief.

Rinoa immediately ran to Squall and dragged him away to the far edge as Zell and Quistis joined Irvine and Selphie.

Grief shot at them row after row of energy blasts, which took their toll to some of the group. While Selphie administered healing to the group, Zell and Irvine threw out a series of shots and punches at Grief.

Grief looked as though this was irritating her. She then unleashed a Maelstrom Spell and the group subsided. Not for long though, Quistis used Esuna on herself and then on the rest of the group. Back up to speed, Zell summoned Cactaur and after it delievered it's 10,000 needle attack, Grief looked as though she finally had it.

She clung to her side and stared venomously at the group.

"_Fight well you have, that is true. Grief will soon get the best of you. _

_This battle, you haven't won. We'll get the father and then the son." _She pointed at Squall and then at Rinoa. _"The daughter of Sorrow will come too, and then Adel's wish will come true. So, feel good while you can, you need your strength for Adel's plan."_

After her cryptic message, Grief vanished once more.

Zell stomped his foot to the ground, "Tch. That's right, you get out of here, you weird, rhyming, bitch!"

Irvine shook his head, "Zell, I think we need to take her seriously. The situation is very grim."

"Rinoa, is Squall, ok?" Asked Selphie and everyone turned to look at Squall who was still on the ground.

Rinoa nodded, "He's breathing, I think he's just unconscience."

Irvine nervously chuckled, "Sorry, Rinoa, I didn't mean to hit him that hard."

Rinoa looked at him questioningly, "Why did you hit him?"

"Grief was putting Squall under some kind of trance. She was saying all these weird things like he should give up his soul to her," said Selphie, as she knelt down next to Squall and Rinoa, "Then, Squall's eyes went completely white and he said: "Must do what mother says"."

Rinoa held a hand to her mouth and looked as though she was going to cry. She laid her head next to Squall's.

Quistis fell beside them and put her hand on Rinoa's shoulder.

"Rinoa? What's wrong?" She asked.

Rinoa reached into her pocket and gave Quistis the photo.

Everyone crowded around.

"Is that Grief? Wow. She's pretty. Hey, that's Sis!" Said Selphie.

"Hey! What's Grief doing in that picture with Sis?" Asked Zell.

Quistis looked at the picture; "Grief's holding a baby."

Rinoa, who still had her head down next to Squall, said, "That's Raine. Grief is Raine."

"You mean the woman Laguna was with after he escaped that attack at Esthar?" Asked Zell.

Rinoa nodded.

Quistis was still holding the picture, "Who's the baby?"

Rinoa took a deep breath, "That's Squall. Raine is Squall's mother."

Everyone was silent as they headed to Esthar. No one was congratulating the fact that they saved the town of FH from Adel and her minions. It was decided that they would go to Esthar and talk with Laguna and figure out what the next course of action to take. Squall still hadn't awakened after the battle with Grief. The second plan at Esthar was to get in touch with Dr. Odine and find out what happened with Squall.

Quistis watched as Irvine took the, still, unmoving Squall to the living quarters of the ship, walking along with Rinoa as he went.

Quistis sat, along with Zell and Selphie, in the conference room of the ship. The ship was currently on auto-pilot.

Selphie sighed as she watched the door closed, "I feel so sad."

Zell looked up for the first time, "Why's that?"

"Because, Squall learns he has a mother and he meets her like this, and all because of that Meany, Sorceress Adel." Selphie looked as though she was kicking at something imaginary.

Both Quistis and Zell nodded in agreement.

Soon, Irvine came back into the room.

"Is Rinoa, ok?" Asked Quistis.

Irvine nodded and sat next to Selphie, looking down at the floor, "She doesn't say much, but, I can tell she's hurting bad; for both her and Squall. Both of them seem to have gotten a rotten deal, out of this."

Quistis shook her head, sadly, "Their own mothers…"

"So, what are going to do?" Asked Zell.

Rinoa sat down next to Squall in the claustrophobically small room. She watched his chest slowly escalate as he drew in small breaths. It seemed like a whole lifetime ago when she was at the Garden and she watching him as she was doing now. Remembering how scared she was when they had defeated Ultamiecia when they had separated, thinking that she'd never see him again. Rinoa held their rings, which she still had with her, tightly in her hands. She hummed to herself a song that her mother used to sing to sooth her to sleep when she was younger. Her mother. Her mother was alive again, and yet, to Rinoa that wasn't true. Julia Heartilly, to her, still had died in the auto accident when she was nine. The woman in her body was not her mother, not to Rinoa. Watching Squall, Rinoa laid herself down next to him and rested her head against his chest. Even though the situation was grim, she felt safe being with him, even though he wasn't able to protect her now, being in his presence was security unto itself. At least right now it was. Sleep soon captured her and she closed her eyes being next to the man she loved.

Kiros had a team waiting for them as they arrived. The Esthar soldiers placed Squall in a veichle and soon enough, both him and Rinoa were off to Odine labs.

Dr. Odine was waiting in his multicolored lab as Squall was brought in. He shook his head as Rinoa came in.

"Dis poor boy, he does so much and gets hurt everytime." Odine then pressed some buttons on his console and an image of Squall was projected from the floor. The projection zoomed in on his head and a x-ray display of his brain was shown on a different panel.

"His brain waves look good. Now, let's get our boy up." Odine pressed another series of buttons and a probe came down from the ceiling. A blue-ish bright light shone over Squalls face. The lights turned to a different variety of colors and then turned insanely bright. When the light faded. Rinoa ran to Squall's side. "Squall?" She leaned on the table, her face close to his.

"…I hate gurneys…they're not good for the back, believe me." Squall moaned.

Rinoa jumped up in joy.

Squall slowly raised his head and smiled at Rinoa. Rinoa ran over to him and kissed him. Squall eyes lit up; this had to be the first time they had actually, really, kissed. He enjoyed it, none the less, and put his hand on Rinoa's face and made it last for a bit longer.

Odine had Squall stay at the lab for a few more hours, as he wanted to run more tests. The doctor's curiosity was spurred when he learned from the group how Squall had gotten into another unconscience dilemma. Squall soon joined the rest of the group.

Selphie made more of a commotion over it than Rinoa did "YES! Squall's back!" She started jumping and skipping until Irvine placed a hand on her shoulder and then she stopped.

"Glad to have you back, buddy." Said Zell, who slugged Squall on the shoulder.

Squall nodded, "Likewise."

The group hung around outside of the Presidential Palace as Squall was inside talking with Laguna. Irvine was playing a card game with Selphie, which she was, badly losing, Zell and Quistis were talking quietly to themselves. Rinoa, however, was looking at the door where Squall had entered to talk to Laguna. Rinoa hoped that Squall wouldn't be too hard on Laguna. Moments later, Squall emerged accompanied by Laguna, both faces were unreadable.

Everyone soon sat up and attentive as Squall spoke.

"Ok everybody, here's what's happeneing. When I was under Grief's influence, I found out what where Adel's next target is; it's Trabia. Selphie, since that is your home, I'll let you decide who your going to take with you to defend it."

Irvine tilted his hat back; "She's covered."

Squall nodded, "Ok, now our second priority is to help protect Laguna from Adel and her minions. The rest of the party will be here and hopefully we'll also be able to capture Grief and be able to figure out where Adel's hiding."

The group nodded. Selphie took Irvine aside and started discussing on what to do when they would arrive at Trabia.

Rinoa walked up to Squall and put her hand around his arm.

"Is everything ok, between you two?" She asked Squall.

Squall nodded. "We'll be fine. I don't entirely agree with how he handled things but…We're going to be ok."

Rinoa sighed out of relief then Squall gave her a hug.

They spent the rest of the day going around Esthar asking people in the enormously large city to immediately report anything that was unusual and to hide if they felt if the air was too cold or if they hear any kind of strange chanting in the area. Selphie and Irvine had left an hour after the briefing.

Zell was walking with Quistis in the shopping area and he stopped to replenish his magic supply by a Tornado draw point.

Quistis was busy having the shopsman resharpen her Save The Queen whip, and was quietly thinking when Watts had come running into the area. An Esthar Soldier grabbed him.

Zell ran up to them, "Yo! Wait! He's cool. He's not the enemy."

The soldier let go of Watts and went on with its patrol.

Watts leaned on his knees as he struggled to regain his breath.

"Must…See…Rinoa…and Squall…Sir." Watts gasped.

Quistis bent down and helped him to his feet, "Why? Is everything ok? Did you hear anything about Adel? Or Grief or Sorrow?"

Watts shook his head.

Zell put Watts' arm around his neck and helped the guy up. Watts was worn out from running and seemed weak from it as he groaned when Zell held him up.

Laguna and Rinoa remained in the Palace waiting room as Squall was going around instructing the staff about the best evacuation measures they should take. Sitting in the room, Laguna was staring, absent-mindedly, out the window as Rinoa leaned on the rim of a desk, swaying her feet as she hummed softly to herself.

Laguna smiled as he heard her hum the last note.

"Boy, does that bring back memories." He said.

Rinoa looked up at him, "What?"

Laguna turned to her, "Your mother use to hum when she played at the Galbadia Hotel. She hummed that exact song one time."

Rinoa smiled, "She used to do this when I was younger and I was having trouble getting to sleep. She said it made her happy when she hummed."

Laguna nodded. He then walked to the other side of the room and sighed deeply.

"I can't tell you how much it hurts me that things are playing out as they are. It almost seems unfair, to the both of you, that Adel's doing this."

Rinoa stopped her swaying and looked at Laguna, seriously.

"Laguna, Sorrow is not my mother. Julia Heartilly is dead. She died eight years ago; you know that. Grief isn't Raine either. None of those women are who they were."

Laguna didn't answer but instead continued looking at the wall.

Their thoughts were interrupted as Zell, Quistis, and Watts came in.

Rinoa got off the table and ran to Watts.

"Watts! What are you doing here? Are you alright?"

Watts nodded, "I found them, Sir. I found out where Adel's keeping Ellone and Zone."

Squall had come back from his rounds and sat, along with Rinoa, Zell, Quistis and Laguna, in the waiting room as Watts told them what he found out.

"Well, Sir, traveling across the world, I got news from a young girl that she saw Zone in Winhill before the town got attacked. Heading over there I found no one at all, but did find a scratching on the ground near the Governor's Mansion, it said "Centra Ruins". Going over there I found the place heavily guarded by Forbiddens and Elnoyles. I managed to sneak by them and was able to get into the entrance way which had a gargoyle on top with red eyes."

"Hey, that's where we found Odin!" Zell slammed his fists together.

Squall held up a hand to quiet Zell, "I know. Watts, please, continue."

Watts nodded, "Anyways, Sir, I was then discovered by an Elnoyle and was blown away, but before that happened, I got a glimpse of inside. I saw both Zone and Ellone chained to the wall, unfortunately, Sir, neither of them saw me."

Squall nodded and then got up and put a hand on Watts' shoulder, "It's alright, Watts, you've been a great help to us. Thank you."

Watts beamed at this compliment.

Rinoa gave him a huge hug and a peck on the cheek.

Squall walked to the other end of the room and was soon joined by the rest of the group.

"Well, Squall? What do you think?" Asked Rinoa.

"Well, I think we need to get to the Centra Ruins. I believe that's where Adel's been hiding all this time." Squall said.

Laguna stood back and crossed his arms, "Great. You guys will be able to stop this once and for all."

Rinoa looked at him, in confusion, "Wait. You're not coming with us?"

Laguna shook his head, "Nope. I can't. This city has already endured so much; I don't want them to feel like I'm abandoning them right now."

Squall nodded. "Ok. Then I need someone to stay behind and guard Laguna in case Grief or Sorrow decides to attack this city. Quistis? Zell?"

Quistis stepped foreword, "I'll do it."

"Alright then. The three of us will…"

Zell brushed the back of his head, "Actually, Squall, if it's cool with you, I'd like to stay here and help Quistis. Either one of those women can be a pain and I think she'll need help facing them."

Quistis looked to Zell who gave her a smile and a wink.

Squall thought about it, then he conceded. "Ok, Zell. That's fine. Rinoa? When do you think we should leave?"

Rinoa smiled at Squall, "I have everything ready; are you ready to leave?"

Squall nodded.

General Caraway was having a restless night. After three men dying after a roof collapsed, then being yelled at by that young punk, Seifer, he had way too much time to think and not sleeping wasn't helping. It was nighttime in Trabia, all of his men and the FH workers had called it in, but he hadn't. For some reason something was bothering him too much and that was causing all this insomnia. Maybe it was he heard no news from his daughter who briefly reentered his life only to go away again. He smiled. She resembled him in so many ways: independent, headstrong, and determined beyond anything. It saddened him, though, that he has never gotten a chance to tell her so. Walking through the construction site, he stopped. He heard something. Was someone singing? He knew he was tired but the singing sounded oddly familiar. Walking to the end of the Garden, near the basketball court he saw a peculiar purple-ish glow.

"Who's there?" He asked out loud.

There was no response. Upon walking further, the light grew dimmer and he saw the shape of what appeared to be a woman. She was wearing a black dress that seemed to be in a nightmarish sense to resemble a death-like shroud. Walking closer, he was shocked to see that this woman was staring at him with eyes that blazed in the night. These eyes were giving off an eerie sapphire color, which looked like flames were dancing out of her eye sockets.

Stopping a few feet away from her he found something familiar about her face.

"Who are you!" He demanded.

The woman gave him a sinister smile.

"_I am Sorrow. I know who you are, father of my child, lover of my past."_

General Caraway was taken back by the low hissing noise this woman made when she spoke.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

Again Sorrow smiled.

"_Questions, my man asks. Questions he wants answers to. How should Sorrow answer them? Sorrow is here for souls, dear lover; Sorrow will soon be after our child's soul. Yours will do well too. Adel needs Sorrow to gather souls."_

General Caraway stood back in horror. Her speaking of both Adel and killing him and others was making the blood in his veins feel rather cold. She had something else, though, that made him terrified. She said "Our child".

General Caraway looked at this woman and whispered, " Ju…Julia?"

She gave him a nod, "_My man guessed correctly. Yet, look at the pain and fear in his tired eyes. That is good, though, he shall suffer, as shall our daughter. Adel's plan shall make us a family again; we shall be one in death. Isn't it marvelous, love?"_

"No it isn't, Sorrow. You'll never get Rinoa. Not if we have anything to say about it."

General Caraway turned as Selphie and Irvine raced towards her, both having their weapons out.

"General, please step out, we'll handle this." Said Irvine.

The General wanted to say something or inquire on the information these young people knew about this person, but his instinct taught him better about being in the way of a battle. He nodded and then ran off.

Sorrow grinned an evil grin.

"_So, the friends of our Child wish to do battle with Sorrow? They are foolish but brave. Let's see how strong they are."_

Sorrow then cast a reflect spell upon herself and started charging herself up as blue-white flames came rushing up her body.

Selphie summoned Shiva and her and Irvine disappeared as the Guardian Force made its dramatic entrance. Selphie pushed hard with her faith to her GF to make its attack stronger. The GF had her pause at some moments, then, let her continue until it was about to use its power. The damage wasn't as great as Selphie hoped, though. Sorrow counter attacked by hurtling an Ultima spell at Selphie. Irvine cast Cure on Selphie; he then put a Haste spell on himself.

Sorrow gave a malicious laugh and cast Dispel on Irvine.

Selphie gave herself an Aura spell and then searched through her magic. She was halted as Sorrow cast Death and Selphie fell to the ground. Irvine immediately gave Selphie a Full-Life spell.

"Thanks." Selphie said wearily.

Irvine summoned Pandamona, as Selphie attacked Sorrow.

Irvine gritted his teeth as he waited for Pandamona to come. He hadn't used this GF before and was given it by Zell; the fact of how it wasn't use to him made the situation hard.

Selphie hit a break as one of her attacks gave Sorrow a huge blow.

Sorrow was starting to get irritated by her attacks and she then cast Confusion on Selphie.

As the strange orange ball appeared above Selphie and landed on her, Pandemona finally arrived. Landing on the ground with a thundering crash. It took a large intake of air; Sorrow included, held it for about five seconds and then exhaled. Sorrow was thrown into the air and landed hard.

Irvine smiled as he saw that it had weakened her.

Sorrow picked herself up off the ground and glared at Irvine.

"_Well done, SeeD. Sorrow will make sure you're rewarded."_

Sorrow then raised herself off the ground and then levitated in the air. A huge ball of energy, spanning about fifteen feet wide, hovered above Sorrow's head and then dropped itself on Irvine.

Irvine let out an anguished grunt as he fell to one knee. Every bone inside him felt like it was splitting, every organ ached, and his muscles screamed out of pain. Light-headedness taking its effect, Irvine used some of his remaining energy as he drew his Exetor and started firing round after round at Sorrow.

Selphie managed to brush off the Confusion, and again attacked Sorrow.

Irvine breathed hard; any more hits and he was out.

Sorrow was also feeling the weight of the battle on herself. In a last desperate move she cast Triple on herself and then shot out row after row of Ultimas.

Selphie seemed to know it was coming and cast Reflect on both her and Irvine just right before Sorrow had cast the spell.

Fortunately for the two of them, Sorrow's Reflect spell had worn off and she took the three Ultimas, painfully.

"_NNNOOOOOO!"_ She shrieked. Sorrow, then, fell to the ground. When she did, a huge burst of blue energy erupted from her body and rushed out in every direction. When it had settled, Selphie helped Irvine up, and she gave him a Potion.

General Caraway ran to the both of them, "Are you two alright?"

Selphie nodded, "We're ok. Is Trabia ok? Did we get here in time before she could attack the Garden?"

The General nodded, "You did great. Tell me, how did you…"

Caraway stopped as the three of them heard a groaning sound coming from Sorrow's inanimate form.

Rushing over there, Irvine positioned his gun about a foot away as General Caraway turned over the body.

Looking at them, with tear-filled, flame-less, almond-colored eyes; no longer "Sorrow", Julia Heartilly weeped while she spoke, "I…I'm so sorry…"

General caraway cried also as he lifted his, revitalized, wife off the ground and into his arms.

"Julia…"

Both Irvine and Selphie stared at the both of them. Not sure what happened.

"I wanted to stop myself, but I couldn't." Julia cried.

Caraway hushed her as he embraced her more. He looked at her with watery eyes, "Julia…You don't know how happy I am to see you again."

Julia smiled.

Selphie, again, started jumping up and down and grabbed Irvine's arm, "Wow! Can you believe this, Irvine? Just imagine how happy Rinoa's going to be when she learns of this!"

Julia looked at Selphie in alarm. "Oh, my god, Rinoa! She's in danger! She isn't going to the Centra Ruins, is she?"

Irvine looked at her, quizzically, "The Centra Ruins? Is that where Adel's been at?"

Julia nodded, "After she had kidnapped Ellone, she was trying to learn everything about the people who attacked her in Lunatic Pandora. She was maniacally proud that she had found Ellone who "told" her everything she knew about the team who attacked Adel. Adel resurrected another woman who was related to someone in the group, this woman was given the title "Grief" because how much emotional pain she was in when she had died."

Irvine nodded, "Raine Leonhart. She's the mother of our squad's captain, Squall."

Julia nodded, then continued. "Adel had Grief annihilate the town of Winhill and while she was there she recognized a man who knew Rinoa; his name is Zone."

Selphie went wide-eyed, "Zone! Adel kidnapped Zone!"

Julia nodded, "Through Ellone, she found out about me as Zone talked about Rinoa. Adel's plan was to have us brainwash Rinoa and Squall and have them willingly come to the Centra Ruins where Adel would perform a ceremony to extract their souls which have the power to resurrect Sorceress Ultaimecia."

Both Selphie and Irvine exchanged worried glances.

Irvine was puzzled, though, "So, why destroy towns when all Adel needed was Squall and Rinoa's souls?"

Julia sighed, "Adel is very weak. She's able to use magic but she is very vulnerable. The souls that we gathered for her, very slowly, enable her to regain her strength. She needs it, because she wishes to posses Ultaimecia's soul."

Everyone went quiet. It didn't last long as Selphie was holding her arm up.

"Question, why are you guys after Laguna, if you only need Squall and Rinoa?"

Julia turned away as she spoke, "The way the ritual works is that when you destroy the two people who brought you into this world, the soul is more eager to escape and join its creators. I'm guessing Laguna is Squall's father, right?"

Selphie and Irvine nodded; they had learned from Rinoa about him.

Julia sighed, gloomily, "The plan was for Grief to kidnap Laguna and have Squall go after him. I was sent here to take my husband back to the Centra Ruins." She then turned to Caraway, "I'm happy you're safe, dear, but Rinoa is still in great danger."

General Caraway hugged his wife, "Don't worry, love, Rinoa's friends will help her to the very end."

Both Selphie and Irvine nodded.

Irvine turned to Selphie, "I think we need to head back to Esthar."

Quistis Trepe walked along the boardwalk near the shopping center. Zell was in the Presidential Palace doing his rounds; they agreed if either of them found anything, they would send a Fire spell immediately in the air.

Quistis found that patrolling this area gave her way too much time to think, she was begging for something to happen. Her mind was on something that she never thought possible. She was thinking about Zell. She remembered long ago, when she was still training to be an instructor at the Garden, how she had first met Zell. They had been paired up in a sparring class and Zell got the best of her when she failed to counter his attack. That day crushed her. She was use to being good in all of her classes, yet, this one was her failure. She remembered after the class, she was crying her eyes out. She kept on saying "I'm not good enough, I'll never be a SeeD!" It was sad. Then when she was in the midst of it, Zell came and put an arm around her and he said, "Life ain't over until YOU say its over, cheer up!"

Quistis smiled to herself, despite of him occasionally saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, him telling her that gave her the confidence to do better in the classes and got her to be able to take the SeeD Exam much quicker. She owed a lot to Zell.

Quistis' thoughts were interrupted when an Esthar Soldier came running to her.

"Miss Quistis, I have something urgent to report to you!"

Quistis cleared her head and gave him her full attention, "What is it?"

"Over pass the frozen boarder near the Esthar Boarder it looks like an army of Forbiddens are marching this way!"

Quistis' eyes widend, "An Army? Thank you for your report."

The soldier saluted her and then quickly took off.

Quistis, however, remained where she stood and raised her hand in the air. Her palm turned bright red and soon a flame came from it and rocketed into the air.

Zell looked out the window and saw the flame.

_About damn time!_ He thought. He then ran to the presidential room and knocked on the door.

Quistis was soon to arrive and she told everyone: Zell, Laguna, Kiros, Ward of the army heading their way. Laguna pressed a button on his desk and soon, heard everywhere, was a siren sound.

Laguna then nodded to the group, "The evacuation siren shall clear the city, so casualties should be minimal."

Everyone nodded.

"We'll be heading out to meet them, with any luck we'll be able to defeat them all, how many are there?" Zell asked Quistis.

Quistis shrugged, "I don't know. The Soldier just told me what they saw. He didn't specify on how big the number was."

Zell scratched his head, "Well, that doesn't make it easy, but let's see what we can do and get this Frick'n thing over with."

Quistis nodded.

"We'll be out there to help you in a few; just have to make sure that the city clears out." Said Laguna.

Both Quistis and Zell nodded and then both headed out.

After they left, Laguna sat back down in his chair.

Both Kiros and Ward looked at him, Questioningly.

"What's up, Laguna?" Asked Kiros.

Laguna smiled and shook his head; "I just can't believe all that's been happening. It's a lot to think about."

Ward nodded.

Kiros walked to the desk, "It is, but now isn't really the best time to reflect on things, man."

Laguna nodded. He pulled out his Machine gun; both Kiros and Ward had their Katana and Anchor with them.

Reaching the door, Laguna found it refusing to open.

"What the hell?"

He put his fingers in the cracks and attempted to pry it open, but to no avail.

"Are we stuck in here?" He asked the other two.

Kiros, suddenly, looked around wildly. "Laguna…It's getting cold in here…"

Remembering what Squall and the others had told him about what happened when the two women arrive, Laguna pulled his Machine Gun in front of him and scanned the room.

Ward grunted and pointed at the ceiling. A flaming, red, ring, which was spinning, appeared and through it came a woman in white. Her hair bounced softly as she landed.

Laguna found himself unable to move. Maybe it was fear or trauma from seeing a face from his past or maybe his leg was cramping up again.

The woman slowly walked towards them.

Kiros and Ward charged at her. The woman smiled and two, red, spinning, spheres appeared next to her and both pelted Kiros and Ward, sending them hitting the wall and into unconceseness. The woman stopped just a few feet away from Laguna.

"_Laguna, my pain, my pleasure, father of my child. Your appearance is as it was, of earlier years, both weak and mild. I have come for you, you shall come, and it shall be now. Our son awaits his destiny, how will he do? Come with me and you shall see how."_

As they were making their way to the city's center, Quistis paused and took a look back.

"What's wrong?" Asked Zell.

Quistis didn't respond at first, she simply turned back to the direction she was originally in and both continued their direction.

"I can't help but feel like we should've stayed there a little longer so all of us could meet this thing head on." She said.

Zell was about to respond when he stopped dead in his tracks.

Quistis stopped and looked inquiringly at Zell. Zell pointed ahead.

Quistis put a hand on her brow, to block out the sun, and peered outward. About a hundred yards away she saw the Forbiddens, but what was behind them was more disturbing. Another set of monsters, Behemoths, and behind them were Grendels. Each row consisted of maybe four to five hundred creatures.

Quistis gave Zell a worried look.

Zell gave her his famous grin and said, "It ain't over till WE say it's over. Let's do this!"

Quistis smiled. She then, to the surprise of Zell, moved closer and kissed him.

"Yes, let's."

The two of them looked back at the hoard of monsters; whip and knuckles at the ready, Zell and Quistis charged forward.

They landed the Ragnarok and soon, by foot, Squall and Rinoa entered the Centra Ruins. Just as Watts had told them, Elnoyls and Forbiddens were all over the place. Carefully, they made their way around them as not to cause any attention, Squall had equipped his Encounter None spell which made both him and Rinoa virtually invisible to the monsters in the area. Moving slowly around the area, the two ascended the staircase that ran along side the tower and reached the top. The place was exactly as it was when the two of them had came here and enlisted the aid of a Semi-GF, Odin. Although Odin was no longer with them, Squall smiled in remembering how the man helped him and the others in tough times. The gargoyle's eyes glowed brightly in the night, the door underneath it still remained ajar. Creeping in quietly, Squall found on both sides of the room sleeping forms of Ellone and Zone. Rinoa ran to Zone and undid his bindings as Squall did the same with Ellone's. Both groaned as they fell to the ground.

"Ellone, Zone, are you both, ok?" Asked Squall.

Ellone looked at Squall, in alarm, "Squall! What are you doing here! Get out before Adel or those two women catch you!"

Zone nodded, "She's planning on using you and Rinoa to resurrect Ultaimecia's soul. It's dangerous, here, for both of you."

Squall nodded, "I know that. That's why we got to stop her. Zone, I want you to take my GF Diablos. Use the Encounter None spell and both of you run out to the Ragnorok and wait there. If either of us don't return within two hours, take off and head to Balamb Garden, ok?"

Zone looked to Rinoa, hoping she would talk some sense into Squall.

Rinoa smiled and held her friend's hand, "Go. It'll be ok, really. We'll be fine."

Zone sighed and then reluctantly took Squall's GF and took Ellone by the hand and started heading out of the fortress.

Watching them leave, Rinoa turned to Squall, "I really want this to stop, I mean, will we ever be at peace, Squall?"

Squall walked up to Rinoa and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Yes. There will be. I'm not going anywhere. Rinoa…before we go in…there's something I want to tell you."

Rinoa, taken back by the sudden change of topic, put her hand on Squall's, "What, Squall?"

Squall closed his eyes and breathed deeply, "About the ring."

Rinoa smiled, "I know YOU were the one who had it made. Zell told me."

Squall laughed, "Yeah…That ring…is not any kind of ring."

Rinoa looked at him questioningly, "What do you mean?"

Squall bent his head down and remained there for a second or two.

"Rinoa, when we get out of this, I have an important question to ask you, regarding us." He looked back up at her.

Rinoa burrowed her eyebrows as she tried to understand what that had to do with the ring he gave her. Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized what he was saying. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and she smiled, "Squall…"

Squall, even with all his hesitation and awkwardness that he always hated having, bent low and kissed Rinoa and held it.

Rinoa closed her eyes and put her hand on the back of his head.

The two of them stood there for a matter of seconds until they released each other, both smiling.

"C'mon, let's end this and go home." Rinoa said.

Squall nodded and the two of them headed into Adel's chamber.

The battle was wearing both of them down, yet Quistis and Zell were not giving up. It seemed that they didn't even have a moment to breathe as the monsters came at them in each direction. It also meant that all of their GFs had been killed off due to not being allowed enough time to be summoned. Quistis was feeling weak and her Blue Magic was only doing so much, she felt ill as a Behemoth hit both of them with a Meteora spell.

Zell managed to save them both with Regen, but he was feeling close to what Quistis was at. The battle seemed to rage on and on and soon a Forbidden slashed at Quistis, cutting her across the torso and at the leg, which made her cry out of dismay and fall to the ground. Zell saw what happened and ran over. Delivering the punches needed, he finished off the Forbidden and circled around Quistis taking the blows.

"Zell…don't…I'm not worth it." She cried.

Zell clenched his teeth in pain as a Grendel attacked him with a slash of its tail.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're worth it!" Zell shouted as he started pelting the Grendel to death.

Quistis managed to limp herself back up and as she did, A Forbidden charged and impaled her on it's sword.

Quistis' eyes went wide in shock and then they closed as she fell to the ground.

Zell shouted in rage and he dealt with the Forbidden quickly and knocked it out of the battle. He was tired, his muscles deafening with their shrieking in agony. He looked down at the life-less form of Quistis.

_Is this really how it's going to end?_ He asked himself. He then watched as another row of monsters ran towards him.

Zell stood there, still looking at Quistis. He then turned his head spitting out blood that came from a broken tooth. He glared at the on coming hoard.

_Never._

Throwing his back, flames started building up on his shoulders, he then slammed the ground hard.

Meanwhile, in General Caraway's private airship, Selphie, Irvine, General Caraway, and Julia watched as an eruption of monsters came out of the town and into the heavens.

"What was that?" Asked the General.

"Zell." Said Irvine.

"I think they're in trouble, Irvine." Said Selphie.

Irvine nodded and they flew low near the battle as a cloud of smoke filled the area. Selphie and Irvine rushed out with their weapons out, but were amazed that they weren't being attacked.

A form was coming to them in the cloud of dust, though neither one of them could make out what it was. Irvine squinted and then sighed out of relief.

Coming out of the cloud was Zell, cuts running all over his face, carrying a still dead, Quistis in his arms.

"Selphie, can you help me?" He asked.

Selphie nodded and gave Zell a Phoenix Down which he cast on Quistis.

Quistis awoke with a startled gasp. She quickly looked in every direction.

"Where did they all go?" She looked up at Zell.

Zell smiled with a bloody lip, "I still had a trick up my sleeve."

Quistis sighed out of relief.

Selphie looked around, "Where's Squall?"

Zell lowered down and picked up Quistis resting her arm on his shoulder.

"He went to the Centra Ruins with Rinoa. Watts showed up and gave us juicy news on where Adel has been camping out all this time."

"That's not good. They're heading for a trap!" Said Irvine.

Quistis looked to the aircraft as two figures came towards them. One she recognized as General Caraway, the other she really recognized.

Zell did, too.

"What the hell is Sorrow doing here!"

Irvine put a hand on Zell's chest, "Zell, relax, she's back to normal."

Julia looked around, "Where's Rinoa?"

Adel smiled as the two familiar people approached her.

"The SeeDs have arrived." She said in an icy tone as Squall and Rinoa entered the chamber.

Squall drew out his Gunblade and Rinoa got her Shooting Star into position.

"It ends here, Adel." Squall said pointing the Gunblade at Adel.

Adel smiled, "I'm afraid not, SeeD."

Five Tonberrys appeared on both sides of Squall and Rinoa and they immediatly attacked their ankles, forcing the two to their knees. The Tonberrys then raised their blades to Squall and Rinoa's throats.

"As you can see, I've been expecting you." Adel grinned and looked to the side and then back to them. "As has someone else."

Squall and Rinoa turned and saw Grief walking out. With her, tied to a circular, metal, wheel, carried out by both Tonberrys and Forbiddens, was Laguna.

"Laguna!" Squall shouted.

Rinoa was put into a cell, which resided in a huge vast chamber. She watched as Squall, much like Laguna, was carried to the center of the room on a similar wheel. The men where placed opposite of each other, their heads about five feet apart.

Grief walked past Rinoa's cell, and was dressed in the same dress but had on a veil that matched it.

Rinoa felt hot tears come to her eyes. She felt so helpless.

"How could you!" She yelled at Grief, "They're your family! Why would you want this!"

Grief stopped and turned towards Rinoa. She smiled.

"_Soon we'll be one, dear child. Squall, Laguna and I shall be one. The past will be reconciled. All will be whole. Don't fret dear. When Sorrow gets here, then we'll have YOUR soul." _Grief then resumed her walk and was in between her husband and son.

As soon as Grief got into position, Adel appeared. Dressed in a maroon robe, she walked behind Grief and put her hands on Grief's shoulders.

"Mother of the male SeeD who banished the all powerful one, are you prepared to sacrifice your soul and your family's so Adel can become ultimate?"

Grief nodded.

Rinoa looked all around her cell to find a way to get out. The bars were old but strong, all the latches were sturdy. She breathed hard as she looked all around her area and then she spotted it. A pin was missing from the hinge to the door, the pin itself was lying on the ground in front of her. Grabbing the pin she placed it into the lock on the outside of the cell. This was a long shot, but if she could apply enough force the locking machinism inside should break and she'd be able to get out. The problem was, Rinoa wasn't much in arm strength, so this wasn't going to be easy. There wasn't anything strong enough in the cell that would force the pin into the lock. All she had available to her was the firing wrist device she had still, since they had taken her Shooting Star, and a rock. Much to Rinoa's disappointment, the "rock" turned out to be just a clump of dirt. Cursing, Rinoa slammed her hand against the wall. That's when she saw it. The ring. Taking off the ring, she adjusted the firing ratio on her wrist device to full maximum. Placing the ring on the hook, which normally the Shooting Star would've been attached to, she pulled the string back past her head and released it. The ring shot out and ricochet off of the wall across from her. Her aim was perfect and, because of the ring's weight plus the force of it; it hit the pin with great force causing the lock to break and the door to open. Rinoa found her Shooting Star, along with Squall's Gunblade in the back of the hallway. She grabbed both and refitted her Shooting Star and ran into the open area.

Grief, holding a knife in her hands, positioned herself in front of Laguna.

Laguna didn't fidget, nor did he show any signs of panic or dread he simply said to Grief, "I'm sorry Raine. I should have been there when you needed me most."

Grief was about to strike, then after hearing Laguna, paused.

Adel scowled, "What's the matter, Grief?"

Grief shook her head and raised the blade up above her head. Tilting her wrist so the blade pointed down she raised it a little higher until Rinoa's Shooting Star knocked it out of her hands.

Both Adel and Grief turned to see Rinoa at the entrance of the room.

"Accursed girl, what do you hope to accomplish with such a futile attempt?" Adel fumed. She then clapped her hands and several Tonberrys and Forbiddens appeared.

Rinoa positioned herself for battle and then disappeared.

Flames erupted in the room and Ifrit came thundering down towards the ground. He stared at Adel and gave a growling roar. Folding his arms, a humongous fireball appeared below him and it lifted him off the ground and into the air. He waited for it to be above his head and then he pelted towards the monsters and Adel. It eliminated both the Tonberrys and the Forbiddens. Adel shout in rage as it had affected her as well.

As Rinoa reappeared so did Zell, Selphie, Quistis, and Irvine.

"Looks like we came just in time. Let's take her down!" Said Selphie.

"Damn right." Said Irvine.

"Let's end this." Replied Quistis.

"Let's get it on!" Said Zell.

Rinoa smiled and nodded. The five of them raced into the area.

Adel got up from her seat and pointed at the group, "Grief! Finish them!"

Grief nodded and tilted her head back as red, violent, waves of power cascaded over her body. She then levitated into the air and looked down upon the group. From her red eyes she shot out numerous amounts of fireballs that hit all in the group. She tilted back her head again and her eyes got brighter and she forced her head back down which sent rays of red light dancing all over the group. Each one exploded with fire.

Everyone immediately hit the floor, everyone feeling weak.

As Selphie cast Full-Cure on everybody, Irvine used his demolition ammo and started firing at Grief. Zell Summoned Cactaur, Quistis used her Micro Missiles, and Rinoa concentrated on regular attacks.

Grief spat blood onto the floor and scowled at the group

"_The SeeDs fight very well, that is for sure, but Grief will make your life seem like a blur."_

Grief then turned insanely bright and a wave of energy hit the group casing everyone's movements to be slow. She then glowed redder than ever before and looked down at Squall. The straps holding him down released and Squall was soon lifted off the ground and into the air and was in direct eyesight of Grief. Squall's body glowed white and his eyes clouded over.

Grief smiled, "_That's it child. Die for Adel; die for your mother, too. We shall defeat these people that are the World's bile. _ _We'll be a family again, in death, one that will be happier than you previously knew."_

Rinoa glared at Grief, "Let him go of him; you sick, manipulative, bitch!"

She then shot her Shooting Star up at Grief. With the yellow wings spinning at fantastic speed, it hit Grief with a powerful force. Squall was released and hit the floor. Grief stared down at Rinoa. She then lifter her arms high, and between her hands grew a flaming sphere that seemed to be expanding dramatically. Gried hurled it at Rinoa with such force that her body tilted as she did.

Rinoa watched as the ball rushed right towards her. She didn't move, instead she took aim at the ball and shot at it. Her Shooting Star made direct contact with the center and the Ball bounced off and headed straight to its owner. Grief tried to shield herself but to no avail as the ball impacted with her it made the whole room go red.

Grief howled in agonized pain, she then plummeted towards the floor. As soon as she hit it, the room exploded with a rush of red energy.

Adel was cursing like mad. Zell ran up to her and delivered numerous amounts of beatings while Quistis gave her a few strokes of her whip.

Adel was about to charge up her power. Until Selphie, with one powerful sweep, hit her so hard it stopped her from doing so.

Adel fell to the floor. Holding herself up by her arms, she weakly tried to pick herself back up.

During all of the fighting, Caraway and Julia quickly released Laguna from his bindings. Laguna, once freed, quickly went over to Squall.

"Squall? Squall? Are you alright?"

Squall's eyes snapped open and he picked himself up.

"You okay, kiddo?" Asked Laguna.

Squall nodded.

Rinoa whistled at him and threw his Gunblade to him.

Squall took it and then looked to Adel who was leaning on one arm in front of her.

Squall looked at Laguna, who nodded.

Squall turned his attention back to Adel.

"Adel…It's over."

Both Squall and Laguna rushed towards her. After throwing a grenade at Adel, Laguna took a grappling hook from his belt and lifted himself in the air. He then unloaded his entire magazine while swinging from left to right. Once the clip was empty he fell back down and the grenade went off.

Adel shrieked in pain.

Squall ran towards her and slashed at her about nine times, he then leapt back and raised his Gunblade towards the sky. A brilliant light came from the Gunblade and went out into the sky. The gunblade shaked with this energy. Sqaull pulled it down and the massive light hit Adel hard.

Adel breathed with difficulty; blood dripping from her mouth and her body displaying numerous amounts of cuts and bruises.

"SeeDs…Must…Die…" She wheezed.

Squall ran towards her, again, and took a swipe. His Gunblade making a crackling sound as it went through the stone floor sparks flying from it. Squall turned his back to Adel as her head left her body and fell to the floor.

"You first." Squall said, looking over his shoulder. He then walked with Laguna back to the others.

Everyone was either congratulating or shaking hands with each other.

Julia noticed Rinoa talking with Zell, and approached her.

Rinoa turned and froze. She felt as if her whole body and been put under a Stone spell.

"Oh, Rinoa… You've grown up so beautifully." Julia said smiling.

Rinoa ran and hugged her mother, tightly. Tears cascaded down her face.

Squall smiled as he watched them, he then turned to Laguna but found he wasn't there. Looking around, Squall found him sitting next to Grief's fallen form. Squall walked up to both of them.

"Are you alright?" Squall asked him.

Laguna sighed, "It's really a shame you had to meet her like this, Squall. I'd bet anything she really would have liked to have gotten to see what you've become."

Squall looked away and nodded.

Laguna got up and walked away with Squall until…

"Laguna? Squall?"

Both of them turned.

Raine Leonhart had her head propped up and was smiling at both of them.

It wasn't clear who was quicker running to her, Laguna or Squall, but both men hit the floor and both hugging Raine tightly.

A year and a half have passed. Esthar has ended its exilment from the world and the trains are passing through. Trabia Garden flowing with students, once more and the Balamb Garden restationed back into the earth where it used to be.

Standing in the classroom on the second floor, Squall, dressed in his SeeD uniform was looking out the window as the clouds passed by.

Soon, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Squall replied.

The doors slid open and in came Zell, who was also wearing his SeeD uniform. That and something else.

"What's that on your neck, Zell?" Squall said smirking.

Zell blushed. On his neck was a large bruise.

"Ya ready?" He asked, ignoring the question.

Squall nodded and then grinned, "You and Quistis…"

Zell nervously brushed the back of his head.

Squall laughed.

Zell gave his trademark grin, "C'mon, let's do this!"

The ballroom was heavily crowded. Everyone from the mayor of FH to The Queen of Cards was here. Seifer, along with Fujin and Rajin, were huddled in a corner in the room. Everyone was talking amongst himself or herself until the doors opened. Everyone hushed.

Walking inside, Rinoa, dressed in her pearl-white dress, was accompanied by her father. They walked through the gap the people made and to the end where Squall and Zell were.

Caraway gave a smile and a nod to Squall and gave her hand to his.

After leaving her, Caraway went to the left side of the crowd where his wife Julia, dressed in a bright red gown was quietly chatting with Laguna and Raine, both of whom were also dressed up.

As soon as everyone was settled, the priest appeared and the ceremony began.

Afterwards, Everyone was dancing. Both Squall and Rinoa smiled as they danced, for, it was here they had first met. They stopped and kissed as the song had ended. They stopped as the fireworks went off above the Garden and the both of them looked up. Rinoa laughed quietly.

"What's so funny?" Squall asked, smiling.

"I just wonder. This is all so perfect. What if this were a dream?" Rinoa looked up at Squall.

Squall smiled and put his arms around his wife.

"If it is. If this is a dream. I'm happy to have you in it. I hope it'll be my last. My final fantasy, if you know what I mean."

Rinoa smiled and kissed her husband and the two resumed dancing.

The End.


End file.
